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WESTERN
POULTRY BOOK
1B NG
MRS. A. BASLEY
PELES- YOU WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT
THE CHICKEN BUSINESS FROM FIRST TO LAST
WITH
Questions and Answers
Relative to Up-to-date Poultry Culture
Published by
MRS. A. BASLEY
Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
PRICE*ONE DOLLAR
THE NEuNER COMPANY PRESS
Los ANGELES
1910
INTRODUCTION
In the hope of helping beginners and others of my friends in the poultry
business, and in response to urgent requests for a book on poultry culture from
my pen, I wrote a small volume a year ago. The whole edition was sold in
a year, and on account of the interest taken in it and the demand for some-
thing more, I have re-written it and added chapters on breeding in line, fireless
brooders and other new features in the poultry business.
The book is a synopsis of many chapters of my ‘“Woman’s Work in the
Poultry Yard” and other talks on poultry, and embodies the personal, practical
experiences I have been through myself in many years of pleasant work in
the poultry yard. Its object is not necessarily to urge anyone into the business,
but to encourage and help beginners and especially newcomers on the Pacific
Coast, where conditions differ materially from those in the East and where
there is an increasingly large demand for both poultry and eggs; where the
poultry business is about as profitable as any that can be undertaken and a
good living may be made in the pure air and sunshine by any industrious man
or woman.
Having for many years been lecturer at the Farmers’ Institutes in the
Extension Courses of the University of California, for two years instructor in
poultry husbandry at the poultry school of the University of California, and
having been editor or associate editor of four agricultural and other news-
papers on the Pacific Coast, many questions have during this time been pro-
pounded to me relating to the poultry business, its difficulties, the troubles
of poultry raisers and the ailments of fowls. Some of these questions will be
found in this book with the answers to them, also remedies for the diseases or
ills of fowls in this climate.
Hoping and feeling sure that my little book may prove a help to all its
readers, I am,
Very cordially your friend.
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Copyright 1910 by —
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Gonmronwmsenserloultry; HlOUuseSing . stk re tye cores cia ese ae Set lim ee cele. 9
SRAM UHe VEE OMe NOOSE) stat. ek oe, wetted oleae saya, oleh see MON oe, ere epee ease, Bind aa 18
ER CIPISEETO Kimi CO CIMT bey seen sor aie g MANA gt enters lash oc sic Kerchee SNS eles saver snc/a eh MEER RRR STAM Stats 27
MS ase Tig cts RTA sneha NE ss ee Meg eeeS Gt eS Aois «ave ers 6 ann cael I oaths aes Me 30
sihemteedimioeer Ob lerapera ss... aise eeh ey orto eset vena ae Buds WOT Los, tore buandwatanececats epeloch a2 34
Sian lS, RET RONNSG beads oleracea clone A ae aA reat Selma ea rant are CAS pe coc, eras comes 35
PASC inieer is CALC mma eM Rita Gala was tals ied State Atak onmeeys MS, 6 Shaan ata e tidht \metet 39
SAREE AMO ES Rep is Me cl tegretol. oh) Mii aware as RRIa Cn a we, GAR ue Be cam vet aad aaie alot 44
TERREIS GL Teer ag Gea Sen re ee eI cS ce OR cage ea Ber dee han CaN 45
IF eRe MS AB eter Ee era be kee yee Gres MOR en ei 2 ees A aan S A ERI an aro sic res Sua 53
MResiinewe mo Smt OralMTetbatlonaen tt atet.-o GAM cite oie etetaanie cis teeters os, sae Uip nie strang ete 56
INENECInUIMEMTT CU at1@ Tia erg etc tase omey. Mtoe canes oes as creek eh aetie Pac roray ak Stee ae fe ce 59
PNT Teer MAELO TS Sek cree, cn Meiel Ser Tas. Tw care His sn Pa cseheeceen ava tists scat ones eel a ae 64
Garecmomesbrooders Chicks. o2.c mi khanerne Gabe Oo cso set nekser cee tt Aaa Eee 69
pIRELES SMT OO Ceti skal oe Oe Ps bid iA a ea Piet Pet Ree eee. omee raat ee sua Gita cone ReMe AN cil aaa 73
Winter Drarchoea in ib rooder*'Ghickse ice enc tires 0 odes oc ore oti brennan Meee els 74
WHERE BT SARE te a er By Meee I fh yi Re re ae UP ee EG elon RI See 5 RR 77
One-Day sOld= Chicks ra dici-sat We cats nies Bie ih oi ci Nia fercvlev enn otaee aero cheat Nene 79
OMG MMNANTT C1NC Serial aecaasctamars eRe pha SPR RN reed Sse reed Claire racers oe 1 dave beherapeee A ES 80
Srila TaN OD koe Naess Nin ATR nena INE NE Mp ks Sc ci Sh hein hE ieee eeucie eintels 81
Mares SECM ce tome pk) ha nc ao op eh nny Pec ey SE, Gus bias 6; oe. Seach Stange Mey ae onay Ne Rte maa 85.
(Gabe “aurea Gaya zac (oe Parsi as ee ta SU ETO RaW he eae ee SESE eS eee 89
Rectsno ima OUulimyar can cic ene soa ttae yas Mote cise sus sioce oe aucie Se athe ee aa seca 92
Mcer seco mMOULtiy LCEOUD)) crus sc cists see Ree Re aie aA connate see aac omtee ebere ceatontual 95
Ali vitae famLVO WIS ote h ic sear he cd ance cass SRI Geli ena he el Neel ualioy ale re-do apps he iets 98
INFO ulti ea SEASON seiecih o catteucio nee olteihs Aokt eee lapet ysis asta, Sait ate, Sy aManee, ee Cyan UNA Seat 101
Nnliemo tee c ONLOTV meus actus eh eine one Re ie scie aie, ore otitis cee eats Mette ee 105
IEGESCRVGN CIM OS raha erie Serene Pe age s RNEL Ee ertny Ne isa ets eae ate cece aaa es 109
(CENCE is ghee oh CUA PE Pea MOE ee Me ee a Ro 112
Peitgicevc. and "low toy aise Ghemiiani is shies aie hala cidis ateictel sp usierain atibereste = 116
Dirteksmatrdintheitra Vial Cele sets acy «ty accor) socks elses ecrah cee! «aie tepah ete eychebe tne 7 Os 124
Sra Paid Camu OIE ERSE fer hen Sen Sree eh cod Gath wm eee Bonen aen' wie, ai ehctab Riches buaneue, Arete ber a ons 131
PETS Me Vaal IMEI SIS fare 209 yap te ce hn Es RS eh wl ats aM IN oath ore wes 134
OmestronsmamdmeAts wens tcc clei be Case etnotdere nade e kutclnes SAMI S sKeisleeus Sieeee 135
Gause and Cure of; Sickness... 22.085
171
VGH ES dita eas thie. Se iL pias ean, 92-161
VINCI IM Oe O.O CS iinubtreweve rae seas omer y 169
More VAD Out DUskeyiSi.. ssa viele 120
IVT Oailithice aise . 140
Water-olass . 2% oe volcan 109
Weight.of Ducks isi. 0.5% eee 196
Weights, Standard .<.cs2:aiee ee 18-26
White ‘Contb!¢:.4.0 2 Ree 142-158
White. Diarrhoea. ise A esas 75
White Wash for: Houses. .... 2-5 ree
Wind)-in. Crops +oeten Ove ae 159
Worst ii cee See ee 163-164
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Yard, Plan: of. \...%. jon ae 99
Arlington Egg Ranch
Pi Pak,
COMMON SENSE POULTRY HOUSES
The poultry business is one of the most fascinating as well as the
most profitable, considering the amount of capital invested, in the
West. The conditions here, however, differ so greatly to those
in the East and other localities, that the ways of treating the fowls
must also be different. The needs of fowls do not vary; the
resources of the places do, and the success of the poultry raiser
greatly depends upon adapting the conditions of the locality to the
need of the fowls.
Nothing is more important than the proper housing of chickens.
The style of house a man builds for his birds will depend upon his
means and inclinations. It is not always the most expensive house
that gives the most eggs. In planning poultry houses and yards,
two or three principles should be firmly held in mind: First, the
house must have a liberal supply of oxygen, which can only be
Mrs. Basley’s Continuous Fresh Air House and Scratching Shed
10 MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK
supplied by perfect ventilation; secondly, it must be free from
draughts and be dry; and, thirdly, be easily accessible to the at-
tendant, not only for cleaning and spraying, but to enable one to
handle the fowls when on the perches. It should also be large
enough to avoid crowding of the fowls.
The laying hens should be kept in yards in permanent houses,
-asy of access, whilst the young and growing fowls will do best on
free range with movable houses, called sometimes colony houses.
These give the best results.
After many years of experience here, the writer has found that
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there are two classes of houses admirably adapted to the needs of
the fowls and to this climate. ‘These are called the open front or
the “fresh air’ house and the “mushroom” house. What is meant
by an open front house, is a house enclosed on three sides and roof,
with one side open to the fresh air. This style house can be con-
structed as a separate and movable house or as a continuous and
scratching shed house. A plain open front house without a scratch-
ing shed attached, is used in many places as a colony house where
fowls have free range or where they are kept in an orchard.
The “mushroom” house is built tight on four sides and roof,
without any floor and is raised from the ground about twelve
inches.
COMMON SENSE POULTRY HOUSES 11
Cuts of both of these styles of houses will serve to show their
construction.
A “fresh air’ house that proved excellent and which I used for
years on my ranch was one hundred and twenty feet long and ten ©
feet wide. It was divided into six houses with scratching pens. I
also had another which suited me well. It was eight feet wide and
a hundred feet long; besides that, I had twenty colony houses for
the young and growing stock, and two brooder houses.
The continuous house and scratching shed of which I give a
photograph and part of ground plan were built of flooring, tongued
and grooved.
The other house was of boards, battened, and the colony houses
of resawed redwood or of shakes. Some were of rubberoid or
building paper.
Many of the artistic looking house plans which may be found in
aA
MVSHROOM ALOVSE USED 1N CALIFORNIA
poultry books were planned by men who never owned a chicken,
and if built in this, or in any other climate, would be highly unsatis-
factory. The plans here described have all been used either by
myself or by successful poultry raisers. I have seen them all and
can assuredly recommend them for use on the Pacific Coast.
The houses I am describing are of the inexpensive kind, for so
great is the variety of plans of houses designed for fowls that it
would be impossible to mention them all in a short article. We will,
therefore, consider only a few of the cheapest and most satisfactory
small houses adapted to this climate.
The first requisite in the house is pure air. To secure this the
ventilation must be at the bottom. Some people think that the
bad air ascends, but this has been proved a mistake—the foul gases
descend; the pure air and the warm air are lighter and they rise
and we want to keep them in, but if we have an opening for ven-
tilation at the top or near the top of the house, we lose the
warmth. A loss of warmth at night in the winter means a loss of
eggs, or more food is needed to supply this loss. The ventilation
IZ MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN ‘POULTRY: BOOK
should either be at the bottom, or one entire side of the house
should be left open.
, A Variety of Houses
The accompanying rough little cut of a “mushroom” house will
give some idea of the bottom ventilation. Houses like this were
used by a successful poultryman. He made a light frame five feet
square and five feet high. This he covered with canvas and the
roof he made of rubberoid roofing. He left a space below of ten or
twelve inches. These “mushroom” houses were tipped over every
day to be sunned or cleaned. I improved upon his plan by making
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a door of one whole side, for I wanted to be able to handle my fowls
at night without tipping the house over. Perches should be placed
about twelve inches above the open space, and in the case of heavy
breeds, a small ladder or run board should be placed for them to
reach the perches easily when going to roost. The advantages of
such a house are its lightness, and the free circulation of air without
draughts on the fowls. These houses can be covered with matched
lumber, shakes, canvas, burlap, rubberoid, or even common domestic
muslin, which may be oiled or painted with crude petroleum.
The open front house is admirably adapted to California climate.
It is now meeting with favor even in the rigorous climate of the
East, where poultry raisers begin to realize the value of fresh air
without draughts, if they want to have vigorous hens that will lay
eggs in the winter time. I have been using the open front houses
of various sizes for over twelve years and can assert that they are
the only kind I ever want to use. Another style open front house
that I have seen and like very much is fifteen feet by eleven feet six
inches, and is seven feet high at the back and four feet at the open
front. It is constructed of rubberoid or malthoid and is almost
vermin proof. It is divided in the middle by chicken wire, so form-
COMMON SENSE POULTRY HOUSES 13
ing either one house or two as required. The roof is first covered
with two-inch chicken wire to support the rubberoid. At the bot-
tom of the walls next to the ground it is boarded up for about two
feet all the way round; this is to keep in the straw, for all the floor
space of the house is used as a scratching pen. The sides and back
above these boards are made of panels of rubberoid nailed to light
frames without the chicken wire. These panels are taken down on
all fine days to sun and air the house. The panels are kept in place
by large wooden buttons. The front is entirely open or only closed
by chicken wire except when it rains, then a burlap curtain is let
down. The perches are near the back of the house about six inches
above the dropping boards. The dropping boards are made of the
rubberoid on frames. They are four feet wide and are placed on
cleats two feet from the floor. This is a double house and each
side will hold from twelve to twenty hens. The above description
is of the Hoffman house pictured on page 12.
A cheap and substantial house can be made of two piano boxes.
The simplest way to make such a house is as follows: Removing
the backs of the piano cases, place the cases back to back thirty
inches apart, on light sills. Use the boards which were the backs
to fill up the thirty inches on the sides and roof; cover the roof
with rubberoid or with oil cloth, and you have a comfortable house,
that will hold about a dozen or twenty hens, at a small cost. The
front of the piano box house should either be hinged so it can
always be kept open except during the rain or it may be entirely
dispensed with and a burlap curtain used to keep out the rain. The
cost of this piano box house is about three dollars.
Inexpensive Colony Houses
An inexpensive colony house is pictured below. This house
is of resawed redwood, four by six feet. It is light and easily moved.
Open Front House Without Scratching Shed
The front is on hinges and it is always kept open except during rain,
and when it is closed it only comes down six inches below the
perches, leaving an open space of about fifteen inches across the
entire front. ;
Still another style of colony house and one well adapted for use
in an orchard or in the colony plan has been in use for some years
14 MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK
on a large poultry ranch in California. The house is eight by ten
feet and two feet to the eaves; all the framework, including the
runners, is of two by three-inch stuff, and the walls and ends are
of one by twelve-inch boards, shiplapped so as to avoid using bat-
Biddy’s Bed-Room
tens. The rafters are five feet four inches long, and three pairs
are used; a one by six inch strip is run all around the outside of the
roof to form the eaves and also to make it tight; eight pieces of
one by four are used for sheathing, and the sawed shakes are close
so that there is no draught from that source; the only opening is
from the front, which is open at all times. The houses do not
require cleaning, for they are on runners, and are slid along about
fifteen feet each time. Thus they are on fresh ground and much
cleaner than one could do it in any other manner.
The Two-Story House
Among the hen houses, or chicken coops, as some people prefer
to call them, that are being used very satisfactorily west of the
Rockies, must be mentioned the two-story houses. There are
especially adapted to the “intensive” method of poultry culture, and
for limited space.
Two-story breeding houses are being used by the immense
broiler plant near Inglewood, of the Pacific Poultry Co. The
houses are 500 feet long and only eight feet wide, and have no
outside runs. It is a close-housing proposition, that is, the fowls
are never allowed outside their quarters. The houses are parti-
tioned off into pens every five feet, and these are divided into an
COMMON SENSE POULTRY HOUSES 15
upper and lower story. Each pen contains ten females and one
male for breeding purposes.
The ground floor i is covered with sand to the depth of six inches;
this is raked off clean every week and the sand renewed entirely
when necessary. A board ladder gives the fowls access to the
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second floor, which is two feet above the sand level. On the
second floor is located the scratching pens—a space 5x5 feet, par-
titioned off next to the open front. A board eight inches high at
the back keeps the straw in place. The remaining three by five feet
is divided into nest boxes and a broody coop, over which extends a
dropping board, with roosts above.
The front of the house from eaves to ground level is five feet;
the rear of house, five feet six inches, thus giving the fowls plenty
of head room over the roosts. Everything on this floor, roosts,
dropping board, nests, broody coop, etc., is movable and can be
taken out, and the house thoroughly cleaned and disinfected when
necessary.
Another two- “story coop has been named by the inventor, Mrs.
A. J. Badger, the “Twentieth Century Coop.”- It makes intensive
poultry culture appeal to those cramped for room.
The “Twentieth Century Coop,” designed by Mrs. A. J. Badger,
is also a two-story coop, intended to house from twelve to fifteen
adult fowls, enclosed all the time, and to supply sanitary quarters
16 MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK
in all kinds of weather. It occupies a ground space of 3 x 12 feet,
front elevation 5% feet, rear 4% feet. It can be completely closed
during storms or opened to sun and air. For convenience in tak-
ing apart for moving, it is built in sections. Canvas forms the
outside covering for the coop. This coop might be suitable for
those with limited space.
Closed Open
A. T. Badger’s 20th Century Coop
In conclusion, to quote Mr. Harker, “If every poultry keeper
on the Pacific Coast would make his roosting houses absolutely
draught proof on three sides, yet leaving the front entirely open
so that the fowls have an abundance of pure air, yet not to be
exposed to a draught, the manufacturers of roup remedies would
have to go out of business, for this disease would then be com-
paratively unknown from Seattle to San Diego.”
Arlington Egg Ranch Continuous House and Scratching Shed
COMMON SENSE POULTRY HOUSES 7
Painting the Houses
For painting the houses I have found nothing better than the
crude petroleum. I add to it for all my houses, red Venetian paint
mixed with a little kerosene or distillate oil, to thin it. This colors
them a handsome chocolate. Creosote stain of a dark green is also
a very good color, harmonizing well with the landscape, and both
of these are preventive of mites and keep their color well for several
years. A good whitewash also is quite suitable. The color is a
matter of taste after all, and I am only describing the inexpensive
Roseneath Egg Ranch
methods I and others have successfully used. The whole plant,
irrespective of size, should be planned symmetrically; the houses
made all alike and placed in line; the large in one row and the
smaller in another and all arranged so as to save as many steps
for the care-taker as possible. A little forethought in this matter
at the beginning may save many steps and dollars later on.
WHAT VARIETY TO CHOOSE
“Poultry for profit” is the slogan. We are all looking more or
less for the “almighty dollar.” Every week, almost every day, I
am appealed to for information as to which breed is the most profit-
able. I can and often do tell which breed I have found the most
profitable in the twenty years I have bred, but I cannot decide for
another person what his or her likes or dislikes may be, nor can I
tell what poultry will suit another’s location or market. That, each
one must decide for himself or herself, and then get the best of that
breed to start with.
A hint as to what to start with may help some of our readers.
First of all study your market, decide whether it requires a brown
or a white egg, and choose accordingly; secondly, decide what you
will do with the surplus chickens, although this may seem like
counting the chickens before they are hatched. Will you sell
them as broilers and fryers or use them as roasters or capons?
Thirdly, it is always a good plan to look ahead and choose a breed
with a prospective value and demand—one of the breeds that may
be rare in your neighborhood, or one of the newer breeds, such as
the Orpingtons, Columbian Wyandottes or Faverolles. Choose a
breed for which there is likely to be a large demand for eggs for
hatching and for breeding stock. Or else take one of the best old
breeds that you know will make you money from the start. What-
ever breed you decide upon, get the best of that breed, and from a
reliable breeder.
Different Breeds
A brief review of the different classes and breeds of domestic
fowls may be of use to beginners. There are a large number of
breeds in this country suitable to any branch of the business, with
White Wyandotte Cockerel
WHAT VARIE LY
Che weights for Bronze are, cock, 36 pounds; yearling cock, 33
pounds ; cockerel, 25 pounds; hen, 20 pounds; and pullet, 16 pounds ;
lor White Tlolland, cock, 26 pounds; cockerel, 18 pounds; hen, 16
pounds; pullet, 12 pounds,
Ducks
Che Pekin is “Vhe American Duck” with its white plumage and
heavily meated body. ‘Vheir weight ts as follows: Adult drake, 8
pounds; young drake, 7 pounds; adult duck, 7 pounds; young duck,
6 pounds. Another white variety, very popular in England, is the
\vlesbury Weight for adult drake, 9 pounds; young drake, 8
pounds; adult duck, 8 pounds; voung duck, 7 pounds. ‘The colored
Rouen have similar weights and plumage to the Wild Mallard, the
drakes having bright green heads. Other popular varieties are the
WHAT VARIETY TO CHOOSE 25
Indian Runners, both colored and white, called the Leghorn of
the duck family, being rather small, very active and immense layers
of fine white eggs. Then there are the Buff Orpington Ducks—
Indian Runner Ducks
becoming very popular; the Blue Swedish, Black vay ear Colored
and White Muscovy, Call and Black East India, these latter being
more ornamental varieties,
. Geese ,
Perhaps the easiest kept and noisiest of all our large variety of
domestic fowl are geese, and where conditions are suitable, they
prove very profitable. The Toulouse, a large gray variety, and the
White Embden, seem the most popular of the pure bred varieties,
and the weights for either variety are, for adult gander, 20 pounds;
young gander, 18 pounds; adult goose, 18 pounds; young ‘Toulouse
goose, 15 pounds; and [mbden young goose, 16 pounds. Other
varieties are the African, Brown and White Chinese, Canadian and
Neyptian ; these are either used for ornamental purposes or for
crossing.
Selection of Breed
Knowing the values and weights of the different standard
breeds, the beginner will be enabled to make his choice, and have
no trouble in finding the proper selection.
Supposing egg production is the principal object, the beginner
will have to decide according to the demand of his nearest market.
Boston requires brown eggs, San I’rancisco white eggs, while Los
Angeles seems to be content with either. If you are living near
San [ranciseo, one of the Mediterranean breeds will prove the most
valuable to you. ‘The Minorcas, Black Spanish and some of the
strains of White Leghorns lay the largest and finest looking eggs.
One correspondent who asks for justice for the Minoreas says he
has Minorca hens which lay eggs weighing nearly three ounces,
and there were Leghorn eggs on exhibition in a late poultry show
which weighed five eggs to the pound, but these were from hens
“bred to lay.” The Brown Leghorns and Hamburgs give many
eggs—white eggs also—but smaller, which is an objection in a
good market. Should broilers be the object, we should choose
20 MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK
the White Wyandottes or White Plymouth Rocks. These latter
are exceptionally fine winter layers. [For roasters and capons, the
Light Brahmas or any of the Plymouth Rocks are the favorites.
If two breeds are wanted, we should personally prefer the White
Leghorns and White Plymouth Rocks. The White Plymouth
Rocks will give the winter eggs and the White Leghorns the spring
and summer eggs in great abundance, although they may not lay
as many eggs in the winter as the White Rocks. In the early spring
the White Rock eggs can be set for early broilers and roasters,
while the Leghorns are doing their heaviest laying, and in April
and May the Leghorn eggs can be set for the following season’s
eggs. In this manner there will be a constant succession of eggs
for market, and broilers and roasters in season. Always having
something to sell means a regular income. Something to market
at least once a week. A poultry and egg route and the reputation
of having none but the choicest goods to offer is the secret of
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EGGS FOR BREEDING
Having chosen the breed which suits us best, let us talk on how
to get the most out of that breed, for I think we are all agreed that
if we keep poultry for profit, we want to make as much as we can
out of it. Therefore, having got our fowls, we must treat them
right. The natural instinct of a fowl is to make a nest for itself and
raise a family of its own in the spring time. It never considers its
owner’s profit or loss; therefore to make it answer our purpose, to
develop it into a money-maker for us, we must either change its
nature or deceive it. We must let it imagine that it is the time of
year for nest making and family raising. We must supply it with
the conditions of springtime. Our own lives are artificial and the
conditions surrounding our domestic hens are also artificial, but
we must, if we want success, copy as far as possible Nature’s ways
with fowls and follow Nature’s plans.
In the spring not only do we want egg production, but we want
Eggs for Breeding, Packed Correctly for Shipment
good, strong fertility in our eggs. We want fertile eggs now, for
are we not pre-arranging to have plenty of vigorous pullets to lay
those high-priced market eggs next fall? Are we not anticipating
sturdy cockerels to win prizes at next winter’s shows, or to make
toothsome frys or delicious roasts?
Fertile eggs are now in order.. How shall we get them? [rrst,
we must have vigorous and healthy parent birds; we usually have
healthy birds in the spring of the year, for the moult is well over
and the ailments which prevail in the fall—colds, catarrh and sore
throats, all classed as roup—have yielded to treatment, or the vic-
tims are no more. The chicken pox, which also is a fall disease,
has about disappeared, and the birds are in good condition.
Vigor is Necessary
Vigor is the first requisite for fertile eggs. To have vigor, the
hens must have exercise; every grain they eat should be scratched
28 MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK
or dug out of the straw or litter in their scratching pen. A hen
that is very fat—over fat—will not have fertile eggs and will not
have strong, sturdy chickens. It is neither kind nor wise to over-
fatten your breeding hens, but they must be fed the proper food for
fertility. How can we decide what: food to feed for fertility? Let
us interrogate Nature again. The wild bird, the Gallus Bankiva
from which sprung all our domestic fowls, lays her eggs and raises
her young only in the spring. She only has two broods of about
thirteen eggs each, but those eggs are rarely infertile. What does
she eat? Principally insects and the tender green grasses or small
leaves, not much grain, for the seeds have fallen and have begun
to sprout and grow.
During the winter Nature has supplied the birds with grains in
plenty, so ; they have put on fat to withstand the cold; but now there
are only a few grains left and the fowls are becoming thinner, yet
Nature does not starve them, only gradually changes the ration and
gives them worms and larvae, insects of all kinds, for the insect life
has also commenced to pulsate and develop; the buds are bursting,
too, and the tender green appears and beautiful spring is here, pro-
viding all the green food they can eat. How about our captive
hens? In our bare back yards, with only the ration we choose to
give them? Poor things; they have a natural craving for the tender
green, a wild desire for the succulent insect or animal food! See,
how they will fight over or scramble for the meat that is thrown
to them, or for the head of lettuce! They try to fell us im therm
own way what they require to produce fertile eggs at this season
of the year.
‘How to Feed
How shall we follow their teachings? Increase the amount of
their animal food and give the breeding fowls more green food.
How shall we do this? Increase eradually whatever animal food
we are now feeding until from 20 to 30 per cent of their daily food
is animal food. ‘The best animal food is fresh meat of some kind;
the scraps and bones left over at the market; this ground or chopped
finely is the best I know of. Rabbits, squirrels, gophers, are all
good fresh meat. If fresh meat cannot be obtained, you can get at
the poultry supply houses granulated milk, dried blood, blood and
bone, beef-scrap and other animal food. The best green food is
fresh-cut clover lawn clippings, green alfalfa, lettuce, cabbage and
other vegetables.
The Male Bird
The male bird is considered as half the pen. The germ or seed
of life of the future chicken is from the male. Be sure to have the
male vigorous and healthy, and see to it that he gets sufficient food
of the right quality. The male bird is often so gallant that he calls
up his wives and they greedily eat all the best part of the food,
choosing first the meat or animal part, which is the most necessary
for fertility, and the husband, the father of future chicks, on which
so much depends, is half starved, becomes thin and light. Every
EGGS FOR BREEDING 29
male bird when being used to fertilize eggs should be fed extra,
either in a pen or corner by himself, or out of your hand at least
once a day.
Mating
In mating up the pens | have found the most satisfactory num-
ber to mate is about eight or not over ten females of the American
breeds to one male. I*rom twelve to fifteen of the Leghorns or
Mediterranean birds, and from six to eight of the Asiatic class to
one male. Some breeders advocate using two male birds in one
pen, alternating them day about, or three male birds for two pens,
allowing one bird to rest every second or third day. I never did
this, because I was keeping a pedigree of my fowls, and never found
any necessity for it.
Caring for Fertile Eggs
Having the fertility assured, the next thing is to take care of the
eggs from the time they are laid until incubation begins. Eges
should be kept in a moderately cool, quiet place; not in a draught.
I always imitate Nature and turn the eggs, just as a hen would,
every day, keeping them in a box either in the cellar or a large,
dark, but airy, closet. Some people keep them in fillers with the
little end down, but I prefer following Nature’s ways and leaving
them on their side.
To Choose Eggs for Hatching
To choose the eggs for hatching I use an egg tester or I roll up
a copy of the Pacific Poultry Craft in the shape of a telescope, put-
ting the egg at one end in the sun and my eye at the other end. If
the egg shell is speckled or thin at one end, or has thin blotches on
it, or is misshapen in any way, or if it feels chalky to the touch, I
reject that egg, relegating it to the kitchen, for these eggs will not
hatch. I also reject very small eggs, as they are laid by pullets or
by over-fat hens and if they hatch, the chickens will be weaklings.
The very large eggs should also be rejected, as they may have
double yolks, and these seldom hatch healthy chickens. Above all,
never sell for hatching eggs those as described above. The best
eggs are the egg-shaped eggs, with good, firm, smooth shells and
not narrow waisted.
EGGS FOR MARKET
The hen in her wild state lays about thirty eggs per year. The
farmer's average hen lays not over one hundred. On egg farms
the average is 150, and some of the fowls of the “bred to lay” strains
will average even more.
There are 365 days in the year, and I do not see why a pullet that
is fully:matured, that comes from an egg-laying strain, a pullet
properly fed and cared for, should not lay over 200 eggs per year;
in fact, I have had hens that will do even better than that. I will
admit that a hen will not lay 200 eggs a year without constant and
intelligent care, and the question confronting us is, will the addi-
tional number of eggs pay for this care? Also how shall we give
this care and secure these results?
You hear of heredity and pedigree in cows, in horses, in dogs.
Heredity is as important with hens as with any other stock. Here-
dity has as much to do with the success of hens as the right hand-
ling. Heredity (or pedigree) and handling must go together. The
two-hundred-egg hen must be “bred to lay.” She must come from
an egg-producing family. No matter how scientifically a hen is
fed, or how well housed, you cannot make an extra fine layer out of
one whose parents for generations past have been poor layers. It is
impossible to take a flock of mongrels and scrubs and get 200 eggs
each a year from them, although good handling will greatly increase
the yield of even mongrels.
The different breeds require different handling, but no matter
what breed you have, there are three essentials to egg production—
comfort, exercise and proper food.
Comfort
Under the head of comfort comes first of all cleanliness. A hen
that has lice, or fleas, or mites, or ticks on her cannot lay her full
amount of eggs. You must help the hen in her efforts to make you
money. Give her every encouragement to lay. Cleanliness every-
where. A comfortable, enticing nest, rather dark, where she may
stealthily deposit her precious egg. Renew with nice clean straw
once a month. Do everything to coax the hens to lay. If trap-
nests are used, there should be enough of them so that the hens
will not be kept waiting, for by keeping a hen off the nest she will
frequently retain her egg until the next day, and will soon learn to
be a poor layer. Cleanliness means a clean, sweet-smelling roost-
ing place, where she may sleep undisturbed by lice or mites. Just
think for a moment how in the human family a fresh, clean bed in
a quiet room will court slumber. I have passed the night in an
Arab’s tent in Africa that was infested with fleas, and my heart is
full of sympathy for a hen that has to live in some of the mite-
infested henneries I have seen in California. Under this head comes
freedom from draughts. A draught in this country will give hu-
man beings face ache, neuralgia, earache and a swelled face. It has
exactly the same effect on hens. Influenza, swelled head, roup, al-
EGGS FOR MARKET 31
ways or almost always commence from a draught (combined with
lice). Comfort means also pure, fresh air without any draught, and
pure, fresh water to drink.
Exercise
You know how in the human family exercise is recommended.
Physical culture, gymnastics, Ralston exercises, Swedish move-
ments, fencing, etc., and those who may be too feeble to exercise for
themselves, pay others to rub, pound and knead or massage them to
get the same effect.
Exercise is as necessary for the hen as for the human being and
more so, for the hen’s exercise of scratching develops the egg pro-
ducing organs and strengthens them, and hens which exercise lay
many more eggs than lazy hens. If you have a vigorous scratcher
among your hens, you may be sure she is a good layer.
Exercise a hen must have to develop the egg-making organs.
She absolutely must scratch if she is to make a living for herself
and you. I consider a scratching pen as necessary for hens in con-
finement as food. My scratching pens were twelve or fifteen feet
long and eight feet wide, but in small yards I have made very satis-
factory little pens by nailing four boards six feet long together,
forming a square. The boards should be twelve inches wide and
the pen filled with wheat straw or alfalfa hay or any good litter.
I do not like barley straw on account of the beards, which some-
times run into the hen‘s eyes, nostrils, or mouth and cause death.
Foxtails, burr clover and wild oats are all dangerous on this ac-
count.
_I feed all the grain scattered over the straw and my hens scratch
and dig happily all day long. The straw or hay is soon broken
into short pieces and fresh straw must be added about once a week,
and the whole cleaned out and used for mulching trees when the
straw becomes dirty. This will depend upon the size of the pen and
the number of hens using it.
Proper Food
What it is and how much to give. The scientists tell us that
the proper food or the “balanced ration” is composed of one part
of protein to four parts of carbo-hydrates. Before discussing this
“balanced ration,” let us interrogate Nature and find out how a hen
balances her own ration. .
Let us take a hen as she comes in from foraging in the fields
after a long day in summer. Let us kill her and examine her crop.
What do we find? Grains of wheat, barley, corn, according to
where her rambles have led her; bits of grass, clover and vege-
tables; some bugs, worms and grasshoppers; here and there a bit
of gravel and a lot of matter partially digested that we cannot
recognize. The first thing that impresses us is that the hen likes
variety, and the second thing that this variety consists of animal
food (bugs, worms, insects), grains and green food. This is the
“balanced ration,” balanced by the hen herself to suit her needs in
the summer time when eggs are plentiful. If we want eggs in the
32 MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK
winter, we must, as far as possible, give the same conditions, the
same variety of foods, with plenty of pure, fresh water, never for-
getting that about seventy per cent of the egg is water.
But to return to the “balanced ration.” We know that a hen
requires a certain amount of food to keep her alive and thriving;
above that the surplus goes either to making the egg inside her or
to making fat.
The hen is an egg-making machine, but if you put into that ma-
chine none of the elements of the egg, you cannot expect the
machine to turn out eggs.
Therefore, the scientists analyzed the egg, and not only that, but
also analyzed the body of the hen with the feathers, and discovered
as follows: The very large number of different substances found in
the hen may be grouped under four heads: 1, water; 2, ash or
mineral matter; 3, protein (or nitrogenous matter); 4, fat. The
proportion of each of these groups alter with the condition of the
hen. Water is the largest ingredient and amounts to from forty to
sixty per cent of the weight of the bird. Ash or mineral matter
forms from three to six per cent when the hen is not laying, and
from six to ten per cent when laying. The groups called protein
constitute from fifteen to thirty per cent of the weight. Fat seldom
falls below six or rises above thirty per cent.
The feathers are composed of protein and ash, the ash being
largely silicate of potash and lime.
The accompanying analysis of the hen, pullet and egg has been
kindly sent to me by Professor Jaffa; that of the egg was made by
him at the University Laboratory of California.
Analysis of Hen and Egg
Typical Pullet in Capon,
Leghorn fulllaying, Plymouth Eggsas Eggs, edible
Hen Leghorn Rock Purchased Portion
Water .. 202. ..088 57.4 41.6 65.6 Tod
Bcoteint aaaeee co 212 19.4 11.8 13.3
NSH 6 eee 3.8 3.4 oe Py 8
Rat ee ral dees 17.8 18.0 3593 10.8 12.2
Shelli ss32 (hee nee ether fel Bae
‘Potala 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Composition of Hen,and Egg
Calculated on a Water-free Basis
Protein ase .ses, oow0 49.8 34.3 50.5
Bate ea eee 41.2 42.2 31.4 46.4
Ashi 2 Sts Oe aoe eo ee re 8.0 2.1 3.1
Shellie. 23.0k.2 ee $2 32.2
*LOtalicve ev cere 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
It is interesting to compare the analysis of the hen and egg with
some of our grains and poultry foods, but it would take more time
than is permissable in a short talk. In all our grains are found more
or less the elements of the egg, but they are not in the right or
EGGS FOR MARKET 33
proper proportion for making the egg. There is usually too much
of the fattening element in the grains and not enough protein or
nitrogenous element, which forms the meat, muscle, bone and
feather. This is the most valuable and most expensive part of the
ration.
In order to keep up the strength of the hen and have her produce
the largest amount of eggs, it has been found that for every pound
of protein in the food, she must have four pounds of carbo hydrates.
This will vary slightly according to the heat of the weather and the
needs of the hen.
I wish I could go more fully into this interesting and important
subject, but space forbids it. I would urge you to send a postal to
the University of California at Berkeley, asking for the Farmer’s
Bulletin No. 164 on Poultry Feeding. This bulletin, by Professor
Jaffa, is one of the most valuable bulletins ever published. It con-
tains the analysis of the different grains, vegetables and meats and
of most of the proprietary foods, besides formulas for the best
rations.
Roseneath Ranch Long Breeding House
THE FEEDING PROBLEM
The three essentials of egg production, the three essentials of
profit in poultry keeping, the three essentials for vigor and health
in fowls are—comfort, exercise and proper food.
Let us consider (1) the proper food, (2) the methods of feeding
it, and (3) recipes for a few tried balanced rations.
Practical knowledge and skill in feeding can be acquired without
the study of science. Feeding fowls for good results is a com-
paratively simple matter.
Requirements in Feeding
The food which a fowl consumes has three chief functions to
perform: (1) to sustain life, promote life, repair waste and produce
eggs; (2) to keep the body warm; (3) to furnish strength or energy
which is expended in every movement. ‘The fowl is also able to
store food, not needed at the time it is eaten, for future use; this
store is chiefly in the form of fat, which serves as a reserve supply
of fuel.
Food Elements
To supply the three functions in the life of a fowl there are three
principal food elements: Proteins, carbo-hydrates and fat; all of
these are contained in the different grains and foods used for
poultry.
(1) Proteids (or protein) albuminous or nitrogenous matter.
Protein is the nourishing matter, the principal tissue former, sup-
plying material for bone, muscle, blood, feathers, eggs. Its latent
energy can also be converted into heat and energy; but it is more
costly for such purposes than the non-nitrogenous foods.
(2) Carbo-hydrates, carbonaceous matter, starches and sugar.
Carbo-hydrates form the bulk in nearly all foods and are the prin-
cipal sources of heat and energy.
(3) Fats are found in almost all foods. They furnish heat and
energy in addition to the supply from the carbo-hydrates. Fat also
enters largely into the composition of the yolk of the egg.
All three food elements are necessary. The proper combin-
ations of these three is called the “balanced ration.” It is, in
other words, a “complete” ration, containing in proper proportions
the necessary food elements to promote (1) growth, including egg
production, (2) warmth, and (3) energy or strength. The needs
of a fowl’s system are not always the same; it does not always
need the different elements to be in the same proportions; the ra-
tion properly balanced (or suitable) for a growing chick would be
unbalanced (unsuitable) for the mature hen. The food to be a
balanced ration must be adapted to the present needs of the fowl.
Methods of Feeding
The question of how to feed and what to feed for the best results
in egg production, is the most difficult problem in poultry keeping,
and has for some time been engaging the attention of the various
THE FEEDING PROBLEM 35
Government Experiment Stations in this and other countries. The
two successful systems in use at the present time are the Mash
system and the Dry Feed system.
The mash system is one in which a mash is fed once or twice a
day. The foundation of the mash is bran, middlings, and corn meal
or chops. It is mixed wet, raw, scalded or cooked. The dry feed
system is when a dry mash is fed, consisting of the same ingredients
as the wet mash, but dry. Dry feeding is used by many regularly,
and is becoming more popular every year.
The advantages of a mash are that by its means the food ration
for the whole day can be properly balanced; the nutritive ratio
varied and controlled and the waste vegetables and table leavings
utilized to the best advantage.
In mash feeding the errors to be avoided are: Too concentrated
a mash with too much meat or fat; too light or bulky, that is,
composed principally of bran or hay; too wet or sloppy or sour
or mouldy. Experience has shown that feeding wet mashes more
than once a day has bad effects, producing indigestion in various
forms.
The advantages of the dry-feed system are: A saving of labor to
the feeder, is lighter to handle and much easier to mix. It can be
fed in the morning. The fowls are obliged to eat it slowly; they
cannot swallow it in a few minutes. It will not freeze in cold
weather nor become sour in hot weather, and the fowls will not
over-eat with the dry feed.
An Excellent Feed Hopper, Good Both for Young and Old Fowls
These hoppers are made 8 feet long and the trough is 8 inches wide
and 4 inches deep, with a projecting strip on top % inch to keep the
chicks from pulling out the feed. The slats are 3 inches apart.
The chief consideration in dry-feeding is that fowls require about
three times as much water to drink as with the wet mash; also
unless the dry food is placed in hoppers or fed in boxes at least
four inches deep, it is apt to be wasted. The two systems supply
the requirements of the fowls in slightly different ways and both
are used very successfully.
SAMPLE RATIONS
The rations here given have been tested and proved excellent by
some of the most successful poultry breeders in this country.
36 MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK
Ration for Chicks Intended for Breeders
First meal, when chicks are 36 hours old: Rolled or flake break-
fast oats, dry; give scattered on sand every three hours, then feed
chick food. This is a number of small or broken dry grains which
can be bought at the poultry supply houses. The use of hard grain
diet like chick feed, develops the digestive organs and keeps them
healthy. The chick feed prepared by reliable firms is excellent.
For those who prefer to mix their own chick feed, the following
is a good recipe: Cracked wheat, 30 pounds; steel-cut or rolled
breakfast oats, 30 pounds; finely cracked corn, 15 pounds; millet,
rice, pearl barley, rape seed, finely ground beef scraps or granulated
milk, dried granulated bone, chick grit, 10 pounds; granulated char-
coal, 5 pounds. In the chick feeds wheat, oats and corn are the
staples, the most necessary part of the ration. Feed at 6 a.m.
chick feed scattered in chaff; 9 a.m. rolled or steel-cut oats; 11
a.m. green lettuce; 1 p.m. chick feed; 3 p.m. green feed, lettuce,
clover or potatoes chopped fine; 4:30 p.m. hard boiled eggs (4 for
100 chicks), chopped shell and all, with the same amount of onions
and twice the amount of bread crumbs or rolled oats or Johnny-
cake. One fountain of skim milk and one of clean water always
before them and renewed three times a day. Very coarse sand and
granulated charcoal should be always before them.
Toward the end of the second week mix a little whole wheat,
hulled oats and kaffir corn with the chick food, gradually increasing
it, until at the end of the sixth week they will be eating this entirely.
Ration for Broilers
For the first two weeks use the same feed as given for the breed-
ers. Third week, 6 a.m. chick feed; 9 a.m. mash, 1 part each of
bran, cornmeal and rolled oats, and a little salt; mix with skim
milk, making a crumbly dry feed in a small dish or trough, taking
away all there is left in fifteen minutes; 11 a.m. lettuce or clover;
1 p.m. rolled oats; 3 p.m. chopped raw potatoes; 4:30 p.m. mash
same as in the morning. Fourth week, 6 a.m. chick feed; 9 a.m.
mash, adding 5 per cent beef scraps or cracklings; 1 p.m. chopped
potatoes; 4:30 p.m. mash, same as in the morning. Keep grit and
charcoal always before them, with skim milk and pure water: Fin-
ish off at six to eight weeks by gradually adding from five to ten
per cent of cotton-seed meal and a little molasses with the mash.
Ration for Laying Hens
In order to keep up the strength of the hen and have her produce
the largest amount of eggs, it has been found that for every pound
of protein in the food she must have four pounds of carbo-hydrates.
Many instances may be cited in which the rations fed to laying hens
differed greatly, but have been productive of excellent results, pro-
vided they contain a sufficient quantity of digestible protein. The
following rations have proven successful:
I will give a formula that I have used for many years after ex-
perimenting with others, and will give some that are being used
THE FEEDING PROBLEM 37
at the present time by prominent and successful breeders near
here. There are many other breeders, but I happen to have these
by me and have not those of the others. The Basley formula is as
follows: By measure, 2 parts heavy bran, 1 part alfalfa meal, 1
part corn meal, 1 part oatmeal (called Breakfast Flaked Oats), 1
part beef scraps or meat meal or granulated milk, a little pepper and
salt; keep this in a hopper or feed box. At noon green feed. In
the evening grain, wheat, kaffir corn or cracked corn, barley, hulled
oats, equal parts, mixed and scattered in straw in the scratching
pen. Fresh water constantly before them; if they run out of
water, the egg yield will stop. I keep before the fowls at all times
sharp grit, crushed oyster shells, charcoal and granulated dried bone.
At moulting time I add to the grain sunflower seed, and to the
dry mash linseed meal. The reason I feed oatmeal is that I always
feed for vigor. I want the parent birds to be vigorous and the
eggs to have such an amount of protein in them that the chicks
will not fail in being vigorous. There is no food equal to oats for
giving vigor. The reason I feed alfalfa is that although it shows
on analysis almost the same protein content as bran, it gives the
yolk of the eggs a rich orange hue which bran fails to impart. All
fowls need plenty of green food and clean water. The green food
is the cheapest food you can give and keeps the digestive organs
in good condition. Green food must be given daily with the fol-
lowing:
Rations of Successful Breeders
Wilcox Standard Mash—50 lbs. heavy wheat bran, 20 Ibs. corn
meal, 14 lbs. ground barley, 5 lbs. oil cake or cotton-seed meal,
10 Ibs. beef scrap, 1 Ib. fine charcoal.
Johnson Formula—80 Ibs. wheat bran, 15 lbs. alfalfa meal, 15
Ibs. cracked raw bone, 1 pint of home-made condiment.
Bickford Dry Mash—One part corn meal, 1 part middlings, 2
parts heavy wheat bran, 1-10 part meat or blood meal, 1-10 cot-
ton-seed meal, a good handful of salt to one hundred pounds.
Goodacre Standard Mash—Ten lbs. wheat bran, 2 lbs: corn
meal, 2 lbs. fine meat meal, 1 lb. linseed meal.
Walton’s Dry Mash—12 parts wheat bran, 4 parts corn meal,
2 parts beef scrap, 2 parts alfalfa meal, 2 parts granulated milk, %
part charcoal.
Cowles Dry Mash—One part each of corn, wheat and barley
ground up together. To 80 Ibs. of the above add 5 lbs. of blood
meal, 5 lbs. of bone meal, 10 Ibs. of meat meal and a little charcoal.
For One Dozen Hens
Rations for one dozen breeding hens, American class, in con-
finement, for three days’ rotation.
Monday morning—One pint and a half grain, wheat, cracked
corn and hulled oats, equal parts mixed and scattered in straw or
litter in scratching pen. Noon: Cut clover or lawn clippings. Even-
ing: Mash, 1 pt. heavy bran; 1 qt. ground oats; 1 pt. corn meal; 1-3
38 MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK
of the whole cut clover or alfalfa meal; 1 tablespoonful each of salt
and pulverized charcoal; % pt. beef scraps.
Tuesday morning—1™% pts. mixed grain, wheat and rolled barley.
Noon: green feed, pumpkins or clover; 1 pt. green cut bone. Even-
ing: Mash, 1 pt, cooked vegetables and table scraps, 1 qt. bran, 1 pt.
cornmeal, a little salt and pepper.
Wednesday morning—1l% pt. mixed grain; wheat, hulled oats,
kaffir corn. Noon: Cabbage or beets. Evening: Mash, 1 pt. peas
or beans soaked over night, boiled with a little soda until soft; %
pt. dried blood, or beefscraps, 1-3 cut clover. If you cannot get
beans cheaply, use potatoes or other vegetables.
lollow the same system the remaining three days.
Sunday, instead of the mash, scald three pints of rolled barley
in the morning, cover and leave to steam. Feed in the evening in-
stead of the mash; this makes a pleasant change and saves work for
the Sabbath.
The reason for feeding the mash at night is to keep the hens
busy scratching all day and so send them to roost with their crops
full. There is danger of the American and Asiatic fowls becoming
too fat and lazy without exercise if given the mash in the morning.
Fattening Fowls
Fowls to be fattened should be confined in small yards or in
coops or crates, especially adapted for feeding. The object in keep-
ing them in confinement is to prevent the forming of muscle and
sinew, which would occur if allowed to run at liberty.
The crate used for fattening fowls can be four or six feet long.
Mine were composed of lath six feet long; the frame of the crate
Three-Compartment Fattening Crate
is 6 feet long, 18 inches wide and 18 inches high, divided into six
little stalls or compartments. The frame is covered with lath,
placed lengthwise on the bottom, back and top the width of one
lath apart. The first lath on the bottom should be two inches from
the back to allow the droppings to fall through, otherwise they
would lodge on the lath at the back. The lath are placed up and
THE FEEDING PROBLEM 39
down in the front, the spaces between them being two inches wide
to enable the chickens to feed from the trough. A “V” shaped
trough is made to fit into two notches in cleats in front of each
crate. The crate stands 15 inches from the ground; the droppings
are received on sand or other absorbent material and removed daily.
The coop is large enough to hold 12 or 18 young chicks (2 or 3 ina
stall) or six full grown fowls. Fowls are fed three times a day all
they will eat in 15 minutes.
See cut of fattening crate.
Formulas for fattening:
(1) Equal parts of bran, cornmeal and oat meal (rolled break-
fast oats) mixed with skim milk, fed three times a day.
(2) Buckwheat flour, pulverized oats, cornmeal in equal parts,
mixed thin with buttermilk.
(3) Equal parts barley meal and oat meal and a half part of
cornmeal, mixed with buttermilk or skim milk.
(4)
VALUE OF ECONOMY 107
water to run in a stream from pen to pen, as that may carry infec-
tion, especially the infection of colds and roup. One gentleman
who had 3000 fowls told me that letting the water run in a small
stream through his pens, had ruined him in the chicken business.
One pen at the top of the hill got roup, and the infection was carried
through to all of them. In Kansas one of the worst outbreaks of
chicken cholera came from a creek. All the farms on that creek
lost all, or nearly all their chickens, from drinking contaminated
water. A faucet in every yard would be cheaper in the end than an
outbreak of roup or cholera.
Economy in Fencing
Economy in fencing came in very handily one summer. I found
I could make a very good temporary chicken-wire fence with posts
50 feet apart by “darning” in a lath every eight feet or so, passing
the lath in and out of the wire meshes before putting up the wire.
This keeps the wire stretched and when taken down it can simply
be rolled up and used over and over again, keeping the lath in it
ready for the next time. I found chicken-wire and lath quite an
economy. I made cat and hawk-proof little pens of this. Bought
a bundle of six-foot lath, some two-foot chicken-wire and made
most useful little panels six feet long with the laths, stretching the
chicken wire on them and tacking it down with two-pointed tacks.
I wired or tied the panels at the corners and had a larger panel go
over the top made of six-foot wire. I did not have to kill any cats
or have fusses with the neighbors. The little panels were untied
and piled up for the winter time and put in the barn, coming out
almost as good as new the next season. They were cheap, light,
easily handled and very satisfactory.
Beware of Spoiled Food
It is poor economy to buy spoiled grain of any kind. The best is
none too good, and anything that is spoiled is very apt to bring in
disease. Wheat or any grain that has been moistened will develop
fungoid growth; smutty wheat, etc., is almost poisonous to fowls,
while, of course, we know that there is no grain that so nearly
approaches the analysis of an egg as does wheat, when it is good.
Corn, likewise, if it has been dampened, will commence to ferment
and that will disagree with fowls. At one time there was a fire at
a flour mill in Los Angeles. A great deal of the spoiled wheat was
sold for chicken feed. “Anything was good enough for chickens,”
was the cry, and hundreds of chickens lost their lives from that
wheat. The owners of the fowls thought it was chemicals that had
been used in suppressing the fire, but it was nothing but water,
some of the firemen told me, that had been used for extinguishing
the fire. The dampened wheat became musty and mouldy and it
was that which killed the chickens. Again in using beef scraps,
meat meal, blood meal or animal meal, be careful to buy the best
you can get, and keep it carefully away from any danipness.
Dampened or spoilt animal food is poisonous to the chickens and
108 MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK
many a fowl has died from ptomaine poisoning from using grow
alfalfa?” Is there sufficient water to raise a good crop of alfalfa?
Alfalfa meal, or as it is sometimes called, Calfalfa, has been suc-
cessfully used for hens. This is alfalfa hay ground up finely to
form a meal. I have used this for several years and I find it some-
times good and sometimes bad. The analysis of it made by the
University of California shows the protein content to be very high,
and the nutritive ratio to be 1:3.3. This is the good meal. The
poor meal contains too much fiber, and, as Prof. Rice of Cornell
University remarked, “It was better for stuffing a bed than a hen.”
It all depends upon the quality of the alfalfa. Sometimes it is left
until it is too old or is not properly cured, and is almost valueless ;
at other times it may have been dampened and become musty.
When this is the case, it will disagree with the fowls and give them
diarrhoea. To test it pour boiling water upon it and if it smells
sweet, like hay, it is all right. If there is a musty, mildewy smell,
discard it.
.
PRESERVING EGGS
Of twenty methods of preserving eggs tested in Germany, the
three which proved the most effective were coating the eggs with
vaseline, preserving them in lime water, and preserving them in
water- -glass. The conclusion ‘was reached that the last was prefer-
able, because varnishing the eggs with vaseline takes considerable
time and treating them with the lime water may give them a dis-
agreeable taste. These drawbacks are not to be found with eggs
preserved in water-glass, which unquestionably is the best pre-
servative yet discovered. The most difficult point probably in the
use of water-glass for preserving eggs is its tendency to vary
in quality. As a matter of fact there are two or three kinds of
water-glass, and in addition to the fact that the buyer does not al-
ways have a distinct idea as to what he wants, the local druggist
may not know all about it, or he may not know which kind is best
for preservative purposes. The main use of these preparations for
years has been the rendering of fabrics non-inflammable. ‘This use
in the Royal Theatre of Munich has rendered the place fire-proof
by its use as a varnish in the fresco work, woodwork, scenery and
curtains. It is also used for hardening stone and protecting it from
the action of the weather. It was thus used many years ago, to ar-
rest the decay of the stones in the British Houses of Parliament.
The use of this medium for egg preservation is comparatively new,
especially in this country, and it is not to be wondered at that
dealers do not always supply just what is wanted.
Different Names for Water Glass
If we used the term soluble glass or “dissolved glass” in prefer-
ence to either water-glass or silicate of soda, it might better de-
scribe just what we want, although one of the other names might
be preferable when ordering of the druggist. This term expresses
exactly what the material is. When we buy it by the pint or quart,
we get dissolved glass. When we buy it dry, we get a soluble glass
powder sometimes like powdered stone, sometimes white and
glassy as to its particles. The powdered forms are supposed to
dissolve in boiling water, but they do not dissolve readily, and must
often be kept boiling for some hours.
Water-glass is made by melting together pure quartz and a caus-
tic alkali, soda or potash, and sometimes a little charcoal.
Several of our Experiment Stations have made some rather ex-
haustive experiments with this dissolved glass in preserving eggs.
The reports are, without exception, in favor of it. No other pre-
servative is reported as being equal to this one. The stuff is invari-
ably described as a thick or jelly-like liquid, and the proportions
recommended are one pint of the silicate of soda to nine pints of
water, although the Rhode Island Station reports experiments in
which as low as two per cent of water-glass was used with favor-
able results. This is done to find out how little could be used, but
110 MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK
this small proportion was not recommended. Further trials may
show that less than nine to one may be reliable.
Directions for Use
The directions for use are: Use pure water which has been
thoroughly boiled and cooled. To each nine quarts of this water
add one quart of water-glass. Pack the eggs in the jar and pour
the solutions over them. ‘The solution may be prepared, placed in
the jar and fresh eggs added from time to time until the jar is filled,
but care must be used to keep fully two inches of water-glass solu-
tion to cover the eggs. Keep the eggs in a cool place and the jar
covered to prevent evaporation. A cool cellar is a good place in
which to keep the eggs.
If the eggs be kept in a too warm place the silicate will be ~
deposited and the eggs will not be properly protected. Do not wash
the eggs before packing, for by so doing you will injure their keep-
ing qualities. Probably by dissolving the mucilaginous. coating on
the outside of the shell. For packing use only perfectly fresh eggs,
for eggs that have already become stale cannot be preserved by
this or any other method, and one stale egg may spoil the whole
batch.
I can speak from my own experience, for I have packed eggs in
it for five years and shall do so again. We are fond of fresh eggs
and use a great many, and I find it most convenient to have a jar
or crock full of nice eggs always on hand. I have kept them my-
self for eight months and have no doubt but that I could have pre-
served them still longer had we not eaten them, for I found them
to all appearances as fresh as if not over a week old. It costs about
1%4 cents per dozen to preserve them.
The Kind of Vessels for Packing
Prof. Ladd, of the North Dakota Agricultural Station, spoke of
receiving a few complaints that barrels were not proving satisfac-
tory, the water-glass appearing to dissolve some product which de-
posited on the eggs. He thinks this might be attributed to the
presence of glue, which had been used as sizing for the barrels. In
such instances, charring the barrel inside with thorough washing
thereafter, is recommended. Altogether the preference seems to
be for glass or stoneware vessels.
Prof. Ladd’s statement as to the satisfactory results of the water-
glass method is very strong. He says: “This method has been
tested in a commercial way, in nearly every state and part of our
country, and we have not had to exceed eight adverse reports.”
One of the stations affirm that the failures reported are probably
due to receiving water-glass of poor quality.
It is also stated that these, like all preserved eggs, contain a
little gas, and, when boiled, they will be likely to burst unless previ-
ously pricked through the shell at the large end.
As the entire processes of preservation are an effort to fence out
germs, the recommendation not to wash off the mucilaginous coat-
ing which nature puts on the eggs, and also to use only boiled
PRESERVING EGGS 111
water, appear very logical. When we know just what we are aim-
ing at, we are less likely to omit the little precautions which other-
wise might seem like the whims of some fussy person. Too many
people skip the essentials when trying to follow a formula.
I have kept the eggs in tin receptacles, five-gallon kerosene oil
cans, and large lard pails. These kept the eggs perfectly, but after
a time the water and silica of soda rusted them in spots and the red
rust formed a sediment on the eggs. This did not injure them as
far as I could see, except giving them a brownish tinge, and on
asking the druggist, he said he did not see why the tin should not
be used, as the silicate of soda comes from the East in tin cans. If
tin is used, it is best not to paint the cans or oil them, as the soda
has an affinity for oil and will eat through it and the oil or grease
may impart a disagreeable flavor to the eggs. Remember the eggs
must be absolutely fresh, for one bad egg may spoil the whole
quantity in the receptable.
Preserving in Lime
The process of keeping them in lime-water is as follows: Slack
four pounds of lime, then add four pounds of salt; add eight gal-
lons of water. Stir and leave to settle. The next day stir again.
After the mixture has settled the second time, draw off the clear
liquid. Take two ounces each of baking soda, cream of tartar, salt
petre, and a little alum, Pulverize and mix; dissolve in two quarts
of boiling water. Add this to the lime water. Put the eggs in a
stone jar, small end down, one layer on top of another, and pour
on the solution. Set the jar away in a cool place. This method is
quite satisfactory, but not so good as the water-glass as the eggs
are liable to taste of the lime.
CAPONS
“Does Caponizing Pay?” We will consider the matter fully
and from different points of view.
In Philadelphia and New York, in London and Paris, capons are
considered a great delicacy, and as we, in California, become more
metropolitan, capons will be more and more in demand. Eleven or
twelve years ago when I had capons for sale I could not get more
per pound for them than for the uncaponized fowls, as the An-
gelenos had not been educated in taste to the excellency of capon
meat.
Capons are undoubtedly a more delicious dish at a year old than
an uncaponized male bird of the same age. I had been led to sup-
pose that a capon would be immensely heavier and larger than an
uncaponized bird of the same age. This I found was not the case,
the capons being rarely more than from half a pound to a pound
heavier, if at all. My chief reason for caponizing was the desire to
train capons for foster mothers of chicks. I wanted mothers that
would not commence to lay as my hens did when chickens were
two, or at most, three weeks old and then desert them. In this I
was thoroughly successful. The trained capon will mother chicks
just as long as the chicks will stay with him, and after a little rest
will take another brood and mother it again, .clucking to the chicks,
feeding them, defending them, hovering them better than the hen.
“Does caponizing pay?” Careful experiments have proved that
the increase in weight is by no means so great as the public has
been led to believe. It takes capons at least a month to sufficiently
recover from the operation to catch up with their former mates in
size and when they come to a marketable age they seldom weigh
a pound more than the uncaponized birds of the same breed and
age. The gain, however, in price is in their favor for it about
doubles that of the other. This sounds like a strong argument on
the side of the capon, but again the cost of production is an essen-
tial factor in the study of the question. It will cost as much to pro-
duce a ten-pound capon as to produce three or four young chicks
of the same combined weight; in fact with food at the present price
I really think it will cost more.
“Does caponizing pay?” I knew a lady about three years ago
who sold four capons for sixteen dollars. She was so much en-
couraged by this, for they averaged 38 cents a pound, that the fol-
lowing season she drove around the country buying up little cock-
erels and caponizing them. She was very successful in operat-
ing, rarely losing any, but as she only stayed in the business one
year, I think she did not consider it very remunerative.
Easy to Learn
The art of caponizing is simple and easy to learn. In France
the farmers’ wives and daughters have done the caponizing for cen-
turies and practically without instruments except a sharp knife.
In this country and age, we can buy a case of the best instruments,
.
CAPONS 143
with full instructions for use, at a low cost, and the Agricultural sta-
tions of some states give free demonstration lessons to anyone
within the state. The’Rhode Island College gives lessons in capon-
izing. in connection with its poultry course and also sends out, free,
a book of instructions. By following these instructions and ex-
perimenting for the first time on a dead chicken, any one that is deft
can learn it. The operation is performed with apparently little pain
to the subject and the minute the bird is released it will eat heartily
and walk around as if nothing had occurred.
In foreign countries the art of caponizing has been known and
practiced for ages, yet it is not so common nor are capons so plenti-
ful but that prices rule high and capons are considered the choicest
of viands ‘and above the reach of any except the rich. In this
blessed country there is no reason why the producers of poultry
should not feast upon capons, besides having the satisfaction of
producing and marketing strictly high class poultry.
Favorite Breeds for Capons
In New England the favorite breeds for caponizing are the Light
Brahmas and the Cochin and Brahma crosses. They are chosen on
account of their large size and slow growth to maturity. The Ply-
mouth Rocks follow, together with “the Orpingtons and Wyan-
dottes. The smaller breeds make, of course, much smaller capons,
still they are popular in small families where large size is not re-
quired. I have personally caponized only my W hite Plymouth
Rocks. Nothing could be better than capons of this breed. At
nine or ten mouths of age they are in their prime and the juiciness
and flavor of their fiesh is superb.
Among the advantages of caponizing are, the birds may be kept
together in large numbers, will not quarrel or fight, will not harass
the hens and pullets, will not misuse the little chicks, bear crowd-
ing and take on flesh more rapidly than cockerels. They make,
when trained, most excellent mothers for little chickens, sheltering
them under their long feathers and great wings.
Best Time for Caponizing
The best time for caponizing is in the early fall, for the reason
that the heat of summer does not then retard recovery and also
because the late (June hatched) cockerels are then of the best size.
The best size is from two and a half to three pounds weight and
this would be about the weight of June hatched chickens. of the
American breeds which if caponized in September will be well
grown and in good shape for marketing in March, the time of the
highest prices.
It is to the farmers, however, that the recommendation to capon-
ize their cockerels for the family table should appeal most strongly
for they are the class that would be most benefited by having good
capons to eat. It is a simple task to caponize forty or fifty birds
and by that simple method a farmer can provide his family with
dinners which will be the envy of his less fortunate friends.
114 MRS. BASLEY’S WESTERN, POULIRY BOOE
The question, “Does caponizing pay?” may be answered, “Some-
times it does and sometimes it does not.”
Capons as Brooders
Capons make excellent mothers when trained to it. Some breeds
would probably make more affectionate and attentive foster mothers
than others. I can personally answer for the Cornish Indian Games
and Plymouth Rocks. I have also seen beautiful Brown Leghorn
capons that had raised several broods of chickens. Cockerels
hatched in November, December and January, make excellent ca-
pons for brooding. They should be caponized at about three months
of age. Should be gently handled and never frightened, when they
will become perfectly tame. The capon with its changed nature is
even more timid than a hen or pullet, and for this reason should be
separated from any of the older fowls and kindly treated.
Capons should be trained at the age of about six months. They
are easier to train at this age than at any other time, generally, but
I have trained them at ten months of age. To train them, I keep
the bird in solitary confinement for a few days, placing him in a
cracker box; place water, grit and sand in the box the same as
though preparing for a hen and her brood. After two or three soli-
tary nights and days I put two little chicks under him at night; they
snuggle up under him, and he is quite glad to have the little fel-
lows for company. The next morning he will look a little surprised
perhaps, but usually takes them immediately, and soon begins to
cluck to them like an old hen. The following evening I put as
many as I intend him to care for under him, and before going to bed
at night, see that all the little fellows are under his sheltering
feathers. My object in using a cracker box is that it is about the
proper height to make it uncomfortable for the capon to stand up-
right and he will sit for comfort ; the little chicks get closer and make
friends quicker, and have an opportunity to nestle under the capon
as they would a hen. This training should be done in pleasant
weather, because the chicks will not be hovered at first as well by
the capon as the hen, and I use only a few chicks the first time,
because a young capon with his first brood does not hover them
like a trained one.
The Whiskey Treatment
Hen-hatched chicks take to a capon without any trouble, but
chicks which have been several days in a brooder seem afraid of
the capon, and instead of running to him to be hovered, huddle in a
corner, so it is best to put them straight from the incubator under
the capon. A writer on this subject says: “Should one of the
capons pick the chicks I would take him out of the box and swing
him around in a verticle circle at arms’ length until he was sick,
then put him back again. If he attempts the same thing again, I .
take a small glass syringe and inject about one tablespoonful of
good whiskey into his crop through his mouth, and after this treat-
ment he is pretty sure to take to the chicks. He becomes so docile
CAPONS 115
that he allows the chicks to pick at his face and will not pick back
at them. When you notice this, you can rest assured that he is on
the right road.”
I have never tried the whiskey treatment, and have never had
any difficulty in training a capon. Capons have proved far superior
to hens in brooding chicks, in fact they excel all other methods,
either natural or artificial. The hen, especially “bred-to-lay” strain,
deserts her brood at too early an age, and some hens, especially
the pullets, with a first brood, are often very stupid at caring for
them. I have known a pullet to hover her chicks in a thunder
storm in a gully where the water rushed until they were nearly all
drowned. Pullets do not seem to have sense enough to “come in
out of the rain,” while a good capon, when once he has been taught
his way home, will bring the little ones to shelter without any
trouble. The capon will defend his little brood most vigorously
against cats, dogs or any animal. He seems to develop all the latent
parental affection and lavishes it on his young charges as if his one
and only object in life was to care for them.
When Changing Broods
When the chicks are old enough to take care of themselves, be-
fore entrusting another brood to his care, he should have a rest of
at least two weeks, especially if the next brood is to be of another
color. During the two weeks’ rest he will forget the color of the
chicks he had and will not be so apt to object to the new ones.
We all know that hens will sometimes object to chicks of a different
color and will oftentimes kill them. When once trained, a capon is
very little trouble and will care for brood after brood without any
more training than I have mentioned. Capons can be kept over
several seasons. I have heard of some being used for eight years,
but mine were usually fattened and made a toothsome dish after
two years’ service.
It is not difficult to learn how to caponize. The tools or instru-
ments necessary are to be found at the poultry supply houses. The
price for a set of instruments is from $2.50 to about $4.00, largely
depending upon the case in which they are contained. The poultry
supply houses have books of instruction for caponizing, and at
some of them you can learn the names of persons who, for a small
sum, will caponize for others. It would be a good plan for several
neighbors to join together and have the person caponize 50 or 100
in the same day. In this way, it would make the price lower.
Capons are not much larger than cockerels of the same breed
and age. The difference is in the table quality of the flesh. It is
juicier and more tender, just as steer beef is superior to any other
beef.
TURKEYS AND HOW TO RAISE THEM
Turkeys have been called the “farmers’ friend,” and there is no
doubt that turkey raising on a small scale is more profitable than
any other branch of the poultry industry and that turkeys will
bring larger cash returns than any other stock upon the farm.
They cost very little to raise, they eat the waste grain in the fieids
and barnyard, besides the seed of many harmful weeds. They
consume an immense number of grasshoppers, grubs, worms aud
insects which would otherwise greatly injure the farmers’ crops,
and they are not difficult to raise if they are not overfed.
One writer asks if chick feed is a proper and safe food for little
turkeys, and another requests me to tell her exactly how I teed
and care for the little turkeys.
Chick food is neither a safe nor a proper food for little turkeys,
although it is a most excellent food for little chicks. In fact, you
may be sure of success when you feed it to chickens and failure if
you feed it to turkeys. Later on I will try to explain this.
Now, as to my way of rearing turkeys. I am glad to give it, be-
cause now I raise every turkey that is hatched, barring accidents,
as some will drown in the cows’ trough and occasionally one or two
get stepped on, or the door blows on one, or the puppy worries
another. None die from disease.
I do not pretend to say that mine is the only way, but I do say
that not only do I succeed in raising turkeys, but those who have
followed my directions were as successful as I have been, and
those that met with failure did not follow my plans. I have been
criticised as too fussy and particular about little details, but I think
it pays to take good care of the little things for a few weeks, for
turkeys are delicate only when they are little, and if properly cared
for then will be strong and hardy when they mature.
Ss
S)
Grandmother’s Recipe
At my grandmother's the recipe for feeding little turkeys was as
follows: “Leave them in the nest twenty-four hours or until the
mother turkey brings them off; then give them only coarse sand,
and water to drink. Meanwhile put some fresh eggs in cold water
to boil; let them boil for half an hour; then chop them up, egg-
shells and all, quite fine; add an equal amount of dry bread crumbs,
and always, always, some green food chopped up finely.”
Lettuce, dandelion or dock were the green foods at grandmoth-
er’s, and the explanation given me was that if they are fed without
having green at every meal, they soon become constipated, then get
sick and die. The secret of her success was the tender green food
and the grit, a pinch of coarse sand being sprinkled over the food
of each meal. As the little turkeys grew, a little cracked wheat and
later whole wheat was added to their food. That was the only
grain given. This was grandmother's recipe for raising turkeys.
TURKEYS AND HOW TO RAISE THEM 117
The way I feed and have fed for years is as follows: When the
little turkeys are twenty-four hours old I put freshly-laid eggs into
cold water and boil them for half an hour; chop them up fine, shell
and all; add equal parts of bread crumbs; feed dry, taking away
what they leave, feeding the mother separately.
The next day I feed the same, adding very finely chopped lettuce
or dandelion leaves or green young mustard leaves and tender
young onion tops. This is their breakfast and supper. [or dinner
they have a little curd made from clabber milk, cottage cheese
some call it. In a few days | add cracked or whole wheat to their
supper, and if | am short of bread crumbs I add rolled breakfast
oats to the egg and bread crumbs. I always chop up an onion a
day with the egg, and bread crumbs unless the onion tops are
very young and tender. Onions are an excellent tonic for the liver
and kidneys, and prevent worms and cure colds; so I use onions
freely both for turkeys and chickens. In a few days | commence
to add wheat to their food and at two weeks of age I gradually
arrive at giving them wheat and rolled oats for breakfast; in the
middle of the forenoon a head of lettuce to tear up and eat; at noon
cottage cheese, and about four or five o’clock their supper of egg,
bread crumbs or rolled oats, lettuce and always the chopped up
onion.
I give them clean water three times a day in a drinking fountain,
or if I have not a fountain I make one out of a tomato can. Make
a nail hole in the can about half an inch from the top, then fill the
can up to the hole with water, invert a saucer over it, and holding
the saucer tightly to it, turn it over quickly. This makes a good
fountain, for the water will come slowly out of the nail hole into
the saucer. I give the turkeys a similar fountain of skim milk,
also. A word about the cottage cheese. I am very particular in
making it not to allow the clabber milk to become hot. I use either
a thermometer, letting the heat only come to 98 degrees, or I keep
my finger in the milk, and as soon as it feels pleasantly warm I take
the milk off the fire, pour the curd into a cheese cloth bag and leave
it to drain. If the milk scalds or boils, the curd will be tough, hard
like rubber and indigestible enough to kill turkeys or chickens.
Overfed Little Ones
When I lived in the home of the wild turkey, Oklahoma and
Kansas, I learned much about the care of tame turkeys. There
“corn is king,” but I was cautioned never to give corn to the young
turkeys until after they “sport the red.” That is, until their heads
and wattles become red, which happens at about three months of
age. It was said that corn always sours on their stomachs. It
was there I heard of a man who brought up his turkeys on nothing
but onion tops, curd and grit, and they did well.
One of my experiences in the land of the wild turkey may serve
as a warning to others. I had a good old Buff Cochin hen who
was mothering a brood of nice little turkeys. She was most as-
siduous in her care of them; she clucked to them all day; called
118 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK
them up to eat all the time, and it was surprising to see how those
little fellows grew, when one after another they began to droop
and die, till only one was left. The other turkeys under turkey
mothers were doing well, so I took the lone little one one night
and put him under a mother turkey out in the meadow and saved
his life. The old hen had overfed the others. Chicken hens are
too anxious to feed the little turkeys. They scratch for them,
coax them to eat, and the little turkeys are such greedy, voracious
little things that they overeat and in consequence die. I prefer
to bring up little turkeys under a turkey hen or even in a brooder,
rather than under a chicken hen. The best way of managing
a hen is to keep her in a coop, letting the little turkeys run out-
side or else tie the hen under a tree by her leg. I only feed the
little poults three times a day just what they will eat up clean in
ten minutes. With a turkey hen I can leave wheat in a trough al-
ways accessible, and she will never overfeed the young. The turkey
mother will take a few mouthsful herself and then move slowly
and deliberately away and her babies will follow her, having only
taken one or two grains each. ‘This is more like the nature of the
wild turkey and the nearer to nature one can keep in raising tur-
keys, the better will be our success.
Nature’s wild turkeys are only hatched in the spring when there
are grubs and worms in abundance, with plenty of green grass and
tender leaves and no grain but what is sprouting, and above all,
Nature never mixes mashes to turn sour and ferment on the little
stomachs. The hard-boiled egg and the curd take the place of the
bugs and the grubs, for we cannot supply the turkey with anything
like the amount of grasshoppers, grubs, worms, larvae of insects
which Nature provides in the haunts of the wild turkeys. Another
lesson we may learn from Nature’s book: Wild turkeys are only
to be found where there are springs and streams of pure water and
they never wander away from the water. Give the young turkeys
plenty of clean, pure water to drink.
There are two chief causes of mortality in little turkeys—lice
and over feeding. Before giving the little turkeys to the mother to
care for, dust them well with “buhach,” and continue to do this once
a week until they are too large to handle. Look for lice on the
head and on the quill feathers of the wing and rub the powder
well into them. Lice and over-feeding kill thousands of little tur-
keys. Over-feeding kills more than lice, and if it does not kill them,
it stunts their growth, and unfortunately until they begin to die
_ at about six weeks of age, one scarcely realizes that they have been
over-fed.
Little turkeys have voracious appetites, and if allowed to do
so, will eat too much, and it only takes a few weeks for them to eat
themselves into their graves. If they hunt for their food, as the
wild turkeys do, they take it leisurely, just what they can easily
digest, exercising between each mouthful and just enough is di-
gested and goes into the circulation to keep them healthy. I never
feed little turkeys all they want, only what they need, and I always
2.7 ek ca Oe BS ee ee ee eee 150 lbs
BASLEY DRY FOOD FOR LAYING HENS
By measure:
BOGAN, si toees tcc sue ake WS acca ica gth sets i Alten ea a eae 2 parts
AlalfasiMieg hl: .s'o" 7.2% ..c8 Si odiectelebed tae eect ete ee ae ee eee 1 part
Gornumealis: isc Senn fod 82 oc cde or ee ee ae ee 1 part
Rolled @ats jor. Oatmeal 45) te5, Aan ce cee ee 1 part
Beek: Scrap: pic iia oaeck eer os oon Se aes oe Was ene er eee 1 part
A little pepper and salt.
BASLEY “EGG COAXER”
Dried ABiloGd) ctl
WEG
PilE GUT
LSA
I have a limited number of settings from my
220-227 egg hens that I will accept orders for at
$4.00 per 15. Cockerels from these hens at $7.00
each.
Our 18 years breeding a heavy strain is what
does it. Our birds never quit laying; they are
healthy and happy and almost as large as Rocks.
Nice Cockerels from $3.00 to $5.00. EGGS—$2.00
per 15, $7.00 per 100 from the cream of the layers
that average 192 eggs each. Send for our new
24-page catalogue.
Los Angeles, May 20th.
My Dear Sir: I have been intending writing
you to let you know how the hens that I raised
from yours eggs are doing. I have just 50 hens
out of the 108 eggs, and they started to lay when
only four months old. I intended to keep a record
of the number of eggs laid, but failed to do so;
when the San Francisco ‘“‘shake’’ occured, my wife
was in that city, so I placed feed and water in the
yard to last them a week and I struck out to find
my wife. I was gone just seven days, and I found
that the hens had filled the nests and laid in the
corners of the house and around on the ground.
Wife and I gathered up just 329 eggs, which was
an average of 47 eggs per day from the 50 hens,
and they have never gone below 40 eggs since.
We are more than satisfied, and ought to be.
J. B. STONE.
RICHLAND EGG RANCH
(W. C. MacFarlane)
Phone Suburban 287 HANFORD, CAL.
<,
ROBT. I. PETERS, Prop.
ORIGINAL WYCKOFF STOCK
linglon(Ge Rane
PaivERSIDE,. CALIFORNia.
——
=
S. C. White Leghorns
THE BUSINESS HEN
When it comes to egg production, it would be extremely difficult—probably impossible
—to find a more satisfactory breed than the White Leghorn.
In choosing the foundation for a money-making flock of White Leghorns, you will make
no mistake if you adopt the famous Wyckoff strain, which has stood at the head of the heavy
laying class for more than a quarter of a century.
Our breeding pens include a splendid collection of high-class stock—hens of proven
merit as egg producers, carefully selected from our heaviest layers, and properly mated to
insure best results in the development of the ideal White Leghorn of the genuine laying type.
Eggs for hatching and high-grade breeding stock furnished at reasonable prices. Cor-
respondence solicited.
“BREEDERS’
mn The Blue Ribbon Strain
Mammoth White Holland Turkeys
Of all varieties, the Mammoth White Holland is the easiest raised
and at the same time the most profitable. Our strain of these beautiful
birds is of extra large size, pure white, vigorous, healthy, prolific layers
and very domestic.
Pen A.—Headed by the First Grand Prize Tom, Madison Square Garden, New York
OUR GRAND BREEDING PENS are far the best that we have
ever mated, also great care has been taken and much money expended
to produce birds of the highest type.
EGGS READY ABOUT MARCH I5TH
Stock and Show Birds a matter of correspondence
W. A. DEXTER, R.F.D. No. 188, PALMS, CAL.
IMPORTER AND BREEDER
Mammoth White
NELSON’S WHITE BEAUTY, age 11 mo.
California Tom. First Prize Winner
Chutes Park, Los Angeles, Cal., Jan. 10, 1910
Holland Turkeys
In mating our stock for 1910,
great care has been taken, and
much money expended to pro-
duce the highest type of birds
for utility and the show room.
The big demand for stock
and eggs has compelled an in-
crease in the size of our plant.
Our pens are all headed by
birds of the highest type, and
every order is filled with great
care.
THOMAS E. NELSON fg.
GOODACRE BROTHERS
Breeders of the
World’s Best
Buff Orpingtons
Rhode Island Reds
White Leghorns
and
Buff Orpington Ducks
Stock and Eggs for sale
the year round
Thirty-two First Prizes, two Silver
Cups, two Sweepstakes Silver Medals,
show season 1909-10 at Alaska-
Yukon - Pacific Exposition, Seattle;
the Great Chicago Show, Sacramento,
Pheenix, San Jose, Oakland and
Los Angeles.
We keep abreast of the times, and
our stock prove good layers as well.
We are adding to our present stock
ANCONAS
The World's Great Layers
GOODACRE BROS., Box W, Compton, Cal.
ee
One copy del. to Cat. Div.
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