HNew Pork State College of Agriculture At Cornell University Bthaca, N. P. Library a es < PN FP i PES A Sie ety \ a —— a ee, Cornell University Library SF 487.B59 1898 Biggle poultry book; in a concise and practi 3 1924 003 013 095 iam ve 3. é. eae Re ate evens, ete TIM’S TWINS FIND THE STOLEN NEST. A CONCISE AND PRACTICAL, ‘TREATISE ON THE Management of Farm Poultry JACOB BIGGLE ILLUSTRATED “What this country needs ts less hog and hominy and moie chicken anda celery.’ PHILADELPHIA WILMER ATKINSON Co. 1898 & SFI 65 | Ve; q§ Riles Co he ay COPYRIGHT, 1895. WILMER ATKINSON Co. SECOND EDITION. TWENTIETH THOUSAND. CONTENTS. LISD? OM COLORED PLATRS 09 oO 2s CHAPTER I. LN DROD WG PLON oc ist ine Core. oben PARTS OF THE CHICKEN . HEADS AND COMBS. CHAPTER II. THE EGG ‘ dock Aba hoccuie CHAPTER III. EGGS :FOR HATCHING’). 5. 6 CHAPTER IV. HATCHING THE HGGS...... CHAPTER V. CHICKS WITH HENS aroma CHAPTER VI. CHICKS WITH BROODERS .... CHAPTER VII. EARLY BROILERS . Fain CHAPTER VIII. HENS EXPRESSLY FOR EGGS. CHAPTER IX, THE FARMER’S FLOCK .... CHAPTER X. THE VILLAGE HENNERY.... CHAPTER XI. BREEDS OF CHICKENS $54 CHAPTER XII. TURKEYS AND GUINEA-FOWLS. CHAPTER AIT, DUCKS... + ‘ i CHAPTER XIV GEESE . ‘ CHAPTER XV. PIGEONS . elas CHAPTER XVI. FATTENING AND MARKETING . CHAPTER XVII. DISEASES AND ENEMIES. ... LIST OF COLORED PLATES. PLATE I. = $BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS. PLATE II. SILVER LACED WYANDOTTES. PLATE IT. LIGHT BRAHMAS. “PLATE IV. Dark BRAHMAS. PLATE... 'V: BUFF COCHINS. PLATE: VI; PARTRIDGE COCHINS. PLATE VII. LANGSHANS. PLATE VIII. SINGLE CoMB BROWN LEGHORNS. PLATE TX. SILVER POLISH AND GOLDEN PENCILED HAM- BURGS. PATH. xX: HOUDANS. PLATE. XI. SILVER GRAY DORKINGS. PLATE XII. INDIAN GAMES. PLATE XIII. REPRESENTATIVE BREEDS OF BANTAMS. PLATE XIV. BRONZE TURKEYS. PLATE XV. ROUEN AND Muscovy DUCKS. PLATE XVI. TovuLOUSE AND BROWN CHINA GEESE. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY PARLEY. This little book is intended to help farmers and villagers conduct the poultry business with pleasure and profit. Its teachings are not drawn from the author’s inner conscious- ness exclusively, but from practical experience, study 3 and observation. I have been successful in the business myself, not as a fancier, but as a farmer, a fact which I do not attribute to my own ability entirely, but partly to the help derived from the stimulating and restraining influence of my good wife Harriet, and to Martha, the industrious and vigilant spouse of our faithful Tim. A good deal of what I know and have written has really been derived from a diligent perusal of the Farm Journal, and I confess to having borrowed con- siderably from its pages both in text and illustration. Credit must therefore be given in a comprehensive way to the Poultry Editor of that publication, whose discerning mind and great experience with poultry 8 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. have received the widest recognition by all interested in the poultry industry. I could do nothing better than to draw largely upon him, augmenting his prac- tical information with trimmings from my own obser- vation and experience, and with suggestions from the women folks and from Tim. Great pains have been taken with the illustrations, and those having charge of this feature of the book deserve much praise for the skill, taste and originality displayed. They certainly have done well. The beau- tiful and life-like pictures set off the book in fine style and raise it far above the level of the common- place. The paintings for the colored prints were made from life from birds in the yards of breeders or on exhibition at the poultry shows, by Louis P. Graham, a young Philadelphia artist possessing a high order of talent. They are as true to nature and the ideal bird as it is possible to make them. Few people have an adequate idea of the impor- tance of the poultry business in this country. It is estimated that there are in the United States over three hundred millions of chickens and thirty millions of other domestic fowls. There are produced in one year nearly one billion dozen eggs of an average worth of ten cents per dozen, making the annual value of the total egg product one hundred million dollars. If in addition to this the yearly product of poultry meat is considered, the importance of this branch of rural economy will be more fully appre- ciated. : A pound of eggs or a pound of poultry can be PRELIMINARY PARLEY. 9 raised as cheaply as a pound of beef or mutton. Poultry sells at home for nearly twice the price per pound you get for beef and mutton on the hoof. Eggs sell for more than twice the price per pound on the farm that the city butcher gets for the dressed carcasses of the animals he sells. I have not written this book for the poultry fan- cier, although that valued person will find many points of interest in it, but for the practical farm or village man or woman who raises poultry and eggs for market, whose flock is one of the many sources by which the income of the farm or village acre is in- creased with but a trifling money outlay, and with but little extra care and work. As in every other branch of farm production, however, poultry always responds quickly to any extra effort and thought put into it, and there are hundreds of farms to-day where the poultry yard yields more ready cash than any other department. This book is.small in measure; I could have doubled the size easily, but it would have been thinner and not any better, at least so it seems to me, and Harriet agrees. Should this be your verdict, gentle reader, I shall be content. JACOB BIGGLE. Elmwood, 1895. PARTS: OF ‘THE: CHICKEN, ce Ce, Face. Wattles. Ear-lobes. Hackle. Breast. Back. Saddle. Saddle-feathers. ‘Sickles. Tail-coverts. Main tail-feathers. Wing-bow. Wing-coverts, forming wing-bar. 15. Secondaries, wing-bay. 16. Primaries or flight-feathers ; wing-butts. — — ee me GS Asebuaunaw ve io) 2 17. Point of breast bone. 20. Shanks or legs. 18. Thighs. 21. Spur. 19. Hocks. 22. Toes or claws. 4 5 6 7 1. Single comb. 3. Rose comb. 5. Cup comb. 2. Spiked comb. 4. Pea comb. 6. Leaf comb, 7. Single comb, female. SHOVIOU HINOWA’Id GHAUVA ‘lI ALV'Id° CHAPTER II. THE EGG. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.—Old Proverb. Put ali your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket. —Mark Twain’s Version. Careful and critical examination of an egg reveals an arrangement of its contents in a series of layers as seen in the illustration. Referring to the cut, A is the shell; B is the membrane adhering to the shell; C is asecond mem- ° brane slightly adhering to B, except at the large end, where the two separate and : form D, the air space; E is ies the first layer of the white or albuminous part and is .. in liquid form; F is the second layer, which is semi- — liquid, and G is the inner SS layer; H, H are the chal- SSCL aze, ot slightly thickened ABCEMFJIK ¢ membranes that unite the white to the membrane enclosing the yolk, M. They form a ligament that binds the parts together, and holds the yolk suspended in the midst of the white or albumen. I,J, Kare very fine membranes surrounding the yolk ; I, is the germ, and N is the germ sack or utricle; a, b, c are separate layers composing the yolk. The germ, L,and germ sack, N, are suspended by the mem 14 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. branes H, like a mariner’s compass, so that the germ always retains its position on top of the yolk. While this germ is present in all eggs alike, it requires the contact of the male element to give it vitality. This contact takes place in the oviduct before the yolk is surrounded by the white, or albumen, and the shell. The yolk is the essential part of the egg, contain- ing as it does the germ, and albuminous and fatty matter and organic salts sufficient to support the germ in its earlier stages of development. The white, which is pure albumen and water, furnishes in the first place a safe and congenial medium for the preserva- tion of the life germ and afterwards contributes its share of nutriment to the developing embryo. The shell is a layer of carbonate of lime deposited so as to give the greatest possible strength, and so ar- ranged as to leave numerous pores through which the water of the egg can escape and the external air can enter. About three-fourths, 74 per cent., of the contents of an egg consist of water, 14 per cent. is albumen, 10.5 per cent. is fat, and 1.5 per cent. is ash. Of the latter the principal part consists of phosphate of lime, the element that enters so largely into the composi- tion of bones. These constituents of an egg furnish every ele- ment, except oxygen, essential to the formation of the living bird. The egg is the beginning of all animal life. In the case of mammals, this egg is hatched and the young animal is nourished and developed for a certain period within the body of the mother before it is cast THE EGG. T5 upon the cold charities of the world. The egg of a bird, or a reptile, is expelled as soon as it is perfectly formed, and the germ of life within it is awakened or destroyed by surrounding conditions. The application of heat, 100 degrees to 103 degrees Fahrenheit, to the egg of the domestic fowl will cause the germ within to begin a process of trans- formation. Within twenty-four hours after incubation begins, an examination will show a zone of small blood vessels formed around this germ. After three days a temporary membrane begins to form inside of the shell membranes. This new membrane serves as lungs to the growing embryo; into its numerous hair- like vessels the contents of the egg are absorbed and changed into blood. This blood is exposed to the oxygen of the air that enters through the pores of the shell, and thus, purified and vitalized, returns to the centre of life, circulation is established and develop- ment proceeds rapidly until the entire egg is absorbed and transformed into a creature having various organs and a conscious life. The different stages in the process of development above described, may be observed by breaking eggs that have been exposed for different periods to the proper conditions for incubation. The contents should be turned out into a saucer, great care being taken not to rupture the delicate membranes that are forming. A good hand reading glass will greatly aid in making this examination. As breaking the egg destroys the embryo, this method of examination is useful only to train the eye and judgment of the observer to examine the embryo 16 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. through the shell. This may be done by holding the egg between the eye and astrong light. Various con- trivances are used to assist the eye. One of the most simple, is made like a tin horn having a piece of soft leather or rubber over the large end and a hole in it, oval in shape, and a little smaller than the eggs to be tested. Such a tester may be made of tin or card board. To test an egg, grasp it between the thumb and finger of the left hand and holding it large end up against the aperture of the tester look directly through it toward the light. While doing so revolve it slowly to get a view from all sides and to observe the motion of the embryo. Figure I illustrates a tester that any handy person can make. The box is six inches square by eighteen inches high, open at top with a sliding door on one side. This holds a lamp. Opposite the lamp flame isa hole one and a half inches in diameter and around this a washer cut from a rubber boot. Back of the lamp place a piece of looking glass, and paint the rest of the box inside a dull black. : Have holes at bottom of box to ven- tilate lamp. A fresh egg looks like Figure 2, almost perfectly clear. With a strong light and a thin white-shelled egg the outline of the yolk can beseen. Eggs with thick brown shells are difficult to test. EIGy 2: THE EGG. 17 On the fifth or sixth day of incu- bation, a strong, fertile egg will look like Figure 3. Theair-sack is slightly enlarged and from a dark center fine red lines are seen to radiate. There is also a slight cloudiness about this dark spot or germ, and the germ can be seen to move slightly as the egg is revolved. It often happens that the germ begins to develop and dies before the sixth day. In this case the red lines are indistinct, or absent, and in their place is a dark circle enclosing the germ as appears in Figure 4. When the egg is revolved this dead embryo floats aimlessly about in the surround- ing contents. All infertile eggs that were fresh “when incubation began, will remain clear up to the sixth day, or even lon- ger, but a stale egg shows a cloudy spot in the center and a large air sack. When opened, the yolk sack is apt to break and the contents to run together, or, as we say, become ‘‘addled.’’ All such eggs, as well as those that contain dead embryos, and all clear or infertile eggs should be removed at this first testing. A second testing of eggs should be made on the tenth day. By this time the air sack has still further en- larged and the growth of the embryo FIG. 3. FIG. 4. 18 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. has so clouded the egg contents as to render the out- lines indistinct. The appearance of the egg is now shown by Figure 5. After the tenth day the tester is of little use. On the eighteenth day the embryo is nearing the final stages, the yolk upon which it subsists is nearly all absorbed. On the nineteenth and twentieth days it is chipping the shell, and on the twenty-first it emerges, fully developed, into a new and larger world. FOOT NOTES. The shell of an egg is porous and any filth on it will taint the meat. A good reason for cleaning eggs as soon as gathered. Sometimes dirty looking eggs are fresher than some that are clean, but buyers will not believe it, and, as they must judge an egg by its outward appearance only, eggs should be made as attractive looking as possible before being sent to market. Eggs are preserved in two ways: By cold storage ina dry atmosphere, at a temperature of 36 to 4o degrees, and by im- mersing in a pickle of lime and salt in clean oak barrels. The pickle is made by slaking two pounds of lime in hot water, and adding one pint of salt and four gallons of water. ‘Twenty gal- lons will cover 150 dozens. Put fresh eggs in the clear pickle until the vessel is nearly full, spread a clean cloth over them and cover this with the settlings of the lime. Ice-house eggs and pickled eggs are edible if put in fresh and properly kept, but are greatly inferior to fresh stock. If sold for what they are it is all right, but it is all wrong and a fraud on consumers to palm them off as newly-laid eggs. Oe ee Fg PLATE II. s D WYANDOTTE 7 ER-LACK SILV CHAPTER IIE. EGGS FOR HATCHING. To me eggs are like morals—they have no middle ground. Lf not good, they ave bad.—Harriet. O. W. Holmes is credited with the observation that a child’s education should begin one hundred years before it is born. in this witticism the poet and sage ex- presses his appreciation of the law of ? heredity, that like begets like, a principle as applicable to the raising of fowls as to the training " of children. The successful chicken rearer must begin his operations long before the advent of the chickens. Hens that have been stunted by neglect and abuse or debilitated by too frequent intermingling of blood, will not lay eggs containing strong, healthy germs. The breeding birds of both sexes should be of hardy stock, fully matured and in a high state of health. Young pullets forced into early laying by stimu- lating food do not make good breeders. Hens that are over two years old, hens that are over fat, or have been weakened by disease, should never be used to furnish eggs for hatching. Pullets that have reached their full size, and well preserved two-year-old hens mated with a vigorous male, make the best breeders. A good plan is to mate hens witha cockerel from eight 22 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. to twelve months old, and to mate pullets with an active cock not over two years old. The exact age when a bird reaches maturity cannot be given, as the different breeds vary greatly in this respect. In order to obtain eggs with germs of strong vitality, the diet of the breeders must receive attention. Eggs. are produced from what we may call surplus food, that which is not required for the sustenance of the hen herself. As we have already seen, the egg coutains substances that make fat, lean meat or muscle and bones. To reproduce these in eggs the hen must eat and digest substances out of which these are made. Starchy foods contain the necessary oil or fatty matter. These are represented by the grains, especially corn, wheat, buckwheat and barley, and vegetables, espe- cially potatoes and sugar beets. The mineral element that is found in eggs is found also in nearly all foods. Of the grains, oats have the largest percentage, then follow barley, sweet corn, buckwheat and rye, wheat and corn in the order named. Wheat, bran, clover hay, linseed and cottonseed meal and buttermilk are all rich in this element. Of the twenty-six per cent. of solids in an egg, fourteen consist of albumen, from which may be seen the absolute necessity of supplying the laying hen with food containing a large proportion of albuminous matter. The alchemy of nature work- ing in the body of the hen cannot elaborate albumen out of starch or fat, nor out of carbonate and phosphate of lime. Food abounding in these will not enable the hen to produce eggs, if it be deficient in what are called albuminoids or nitrogenous elements. While the grains contain these they are not contained in EGGS FOR HATCHING. 23 sufficient quantity to form a proper diet for egg pro- duction when the grains are fed alone. Resort is had, therefore, to foods rich in albuminoids. Meat-meal, made from lean meat dried and ground, is the richest in this respect of all the foods found in the market. After meat-meal, follow in order dried fish scrap, ‘canned meat, cut raw bone and meat, cottonseed meal, linseed meal, wheat bran, clover hay and milk. The hens when running at large in the warm season of the year supplement the ration of grain supplied them by their keeper with worms, grubs and insects of various kinds, which contain the needful HE FINDS A WORM. albumen. While providing themselves with this they obtain succulent and bulky green food in the form of grass, and gritty particles to grind the whole mass. Along with the needful quantity and variety of - food, hens roaming the fields secure the exercise so essential to good health and the production of healthy progeny. Eggs of strong vitality for hatching may be ob- tained even from hens in confinement when the con- ditions noted here are complied with. _ The same conditions that promote health and in- duce the hens to lay are favorable for giving vigor to the cock also. 24. BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. It is difficult to lay down definite rules in regard to the number of hens to be allowed for each male bird. Breeds and individuals of each breed differ in activity and vigor; but speaking generally, it may be said that for a flock at liberty, one Leghorn male may be allowed for each flock of twenty to twenty-five females; one Plymouth Rock male to fifteen to twenty females; and one Brahma male to ten to fifteen females ; these breeds being taken to represent the small, medium and large fowls. When confined in yards, reduce the number of females by a third. To be sure that eggs for hatching are fertile, none should be saved for this purpose from a flock until the third day after mating. After mating, though the male be removed, the eggs laid from the third to the tenth day will nearly all be fertile. It follows from this, that in breeding pure-bred fowls, contamination of the blood from the introduction of a strange male need not be feared after the tenth day. NOTA BENE. Never shake an egg designed for hatching. , Wrap eggs kept for hatching in old flannel or woolen cloth, or stand on end in bran and cover with flannel. Avoid a hot, drying atmosphere. Beware of breeding from cocks with crooked breasts, wry tails, long, slender shanks, or any other bodily defect indicating a lack of vigor. Like begets like. Use only the best for stock birds. me ut Pu Seg 7 a i“ SVNHVUd LHOII = gars J hae OZ Sez ia ‘be Fo= | 8 7 rod = & $§ 4 ‘TIT ALW Id CHAPTER IV. HATCHING THE EGGS. Eggs are close things, but the chicks come out at last. —Chinese Proverb Incubation is the application of the proper amount of heat to the egg under proper conditions. Nature has provided for this by bringing upon hens after lay- ing a certain number of eggs, the brooding fever, which runs its course when its purpose has been fulfilled. In some breeds this broody instinct has been bred out toa great extent. This is true of the smaller, or Spanish breeds generally, yet even these will occa- sionally become broody. Nearly all the medium sized breeds, and the larger ones, too, are persistent sitters. Of all the standard breeds, perhaps the Cochins are by nature the most quiet and gentle, and have the moth- erly instinct the most strongly developed. Whatever may be the breed, it is best, asa rule, to select for sitters and mothers, medium sized hens, and such as are not too fat andclumsy. It is an advantage, also, to have those that are gentle and will not fidget and fight and break their eggs. Wild, squalling hens are a nuisance; accustom them to being handled, remove them at night to a room apart from the laying hens, let them sit for a day or two on nest eggs, and if they promise well, give them as many as they can cover well. 28 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. No invariable rule can be laid down respecting the number of eggs to be put undera hen. The size of the hen, the size of the eggs and the season of the year will determine the proper number, which may be from nine to eighteen. The manner of making the nest, a very simple operation, apparently, has much to do with the suc- cess or failure of a hatch. The box in which the nest is made should be so large as not to prevent the hen from turning about freely, and so situated that she cannot be interfered with by other hens. One of the cheapest and most satisfactory nest boxes for general purposes is illus- trated herewith. It isa large soap box with two-thirds of the top removed, e turned on its side. A box of this kind FIG. I. set on the floor of the laying room or on a shelf with the open side toward the wall but a few feet from it, makes a handy and secluded nesting place. When a hen becomes broody, the box can be moved near the wall and other hens shut out, and at the proper time she can be carried on her own nest to the hatch- ing-room. If a new nest must be made it should be of some soft material, broken oat straw or hay, carefully spread out and pressed down, hollowed but slightly, and the edges raised a little to prevent the eggs from rolling out. If the bottom be made too flat the eggs roll away from the hen and she cannot cover them ; if too convex, they roll close together, and when the hen enters the nest and steps on them or among them they do not separate or roll away and a fouled nest is HATCHING THE EGGS. 29 the result. Whenever eggs are thus smeared or fouled in any manner, they should be carefully washed in warm water and at once replaced under the hen. In selecting eggs for hatching, such as are very large or very small, all having unusually thin, rough or chalky shells, should be discarded. It is a good plan to mark on every egg with pen and ink the date of sitting, and when they are due to hatch, and to make a record of the same in a book kept for the purpose. Always put the eggs under the hen after dark, unless she is known to be perfectly gentle and trustworthy. To save labor it is a common custom to set several hens at one time, and when the chicks hatch to put two or more broods with one mother. About the best food for sitting hens is corn. With corn, water, gravel, and a place to dust supplied, they will need little else. Their attendant should see that they come off the nest once a day and that their eggs are not fouled or broken. The modern man-made hatcher, the incubator, is largely used for winter hatching when hens rarely be- come broody, and also for hatch- §& ——— 2 — ing on a larger scale than is con- ] venient with the natural mother. While the names and makers of these machines are numerous they are divided into two general classes, those warmed by hot air, pe San OR and those warmed by radiation HOT-AIR INCUBATOR. from a tank of hot water, the heat being supplied in both cases by a lamp flame or a gas jet. A very 30 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. few are still made that are heated by drawing off the cooled water from a tank and pouring in hot water as required. Each kind and each make has its friends, and nearly all are fairly successful. An expert having knowl- edge and experience in artificial hatching can make a success of the crudest incuba- tor, while a person ignorant in = such matters may fail with the most improved. _5| The running of an incubator rypeor _- With only a few eggs in it at first, HOT-WATERINCUBATOR. to learn how to manage it and to gain experience, is the part of wisdom for a novice. The directions sent by all manufacturers with their machines should be carefully studied during these experimental hatches. The best location for an incubator is in a room where a mild and fairly uniform temperature can be preserved in spite of changes in the weather. Such a location is afforded by a light, dry and well ventil- ated basement or cellar. The machine should stand on a firm foundation, and where the direct rays of the sun can- not shine upon it. Before filling the trays with eggs run it empty for a day or paaeen oie ‘ TYEE OF: two to see that it is in working HOME-MADE INCUBATOR. order, and that the heat can be maintained at 102 de- grees to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Eggs for incubator hatching should be fresh, the fresher the better. None should be over ten days old, HATCHING THE EGGS. 31 although they will hatch when much older if carefully preserved under woolen covers, and turned daily. The trays should be crowded at first, since, on testing the eggs on the fifth day, many may be found infertile and will have to be taken out. After an incubator full of eggs has once been started, no additional eggs should be put in until the ° hatching is completed. This may be accepted as a rule to tie to without giving all the reasons for it here. Eggs to hatch well must lose a part of the water contained in them. This loss occurs by evaporation through the pores of the egy-shell. Under the hen evaporation is checked just at the right time by a slight film of oil from the hen’s body that shows itself in the gloss that appears on eggs that have been in the nest fora few days. In the incubator the evapor- ation will continue for the whole period of incubation and be excessive unless checked by supplying a moist atmosphere to the egg trays. Each manufacturer has his own method for furnishing the required moisture, and nearly all furnish moisture gauges or hygrometers for recording the amount of humidity in the egg chamber. A reliable thermometer is one of the first essen- tials to success in artificial hatching. The secret of many failures may be traced to thermometers with scales inaccurately marked between the points Ioo degrees and 105 degrees, just where accuracy is especially required in hatching eggs. The proper temperature for hatching is considered to be 102 degrees to 103 degrees. This is the tempera- ture, not of the egg chamber, but the temperature of 32 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. the upper surface of a fertile, live egg. The tempera- ture of an infertile egg, or of an egg containing a dead embryo will be lower than that of a live egg lying ad- jacent inthe same tray. It is important, therefore, in testing the temperature to place the bulb uponaliveegg. By the tenth day the animal heat that has been stored in the living embryos in the process of incuba- tion becomes quite a factor in the temperature of the machine. If the operator is not experienced or the machine cannot be trusted to regulate its own tem- perature, the thermometer is apt, about this time, to shoot up to 110 degrees and the whole incubator full of eggs to be destroyed. From this period to the end less artificial heat is required. In a warm room a large machine containing several hundred eggs will hold its heat for hours at a time without the applica- tion of any external heat whatever. It is thought necessary to give eggs in incubators a daily airing, after the fashion of the hen. This is less essential when the hatching is done in a cold room. In airing eggs it is best to remove them from the machine in the trays and immediately close the doors so as not to lower the inside temperature. While the eggs are being aired they should also be turned. Nearly all machines have devices for doing this, a trayful at a time, or automatically, by a clock- work contrivance, but in small machines it may be © done by hand and the relative position of the eggs in the trays changed so as to better insure an equal chance forall. After the nineteenth day they should not be handled, except as the shells are chipped the broken side should be turned up. CHAPTER V. CARE OF YOUNG CHICKS WITH HENS. Keep all chicks out of the wet gvass in the early morning. It ts not the wet feet, but the wet feathers that do the harm. —Tim’s Wife. When the chicks begin to break the shell, the importance of a mother-hen with a quiet and gentle disposition becomes apparent. Theadvice commonly given to let the hen alone until the chicks are all out, is sound only in cases where hens are so wild and pugnacious that handling them will endanger the _ young, or the attendant is ignorant of the proper thing to do. It is often good policy to take from the nest the chicks that come out first. This leaves more room for those that are to hatch, and when out of the nest they cannot be trampled on. This is especially wise when the mother is heavy, clumsy and fidgety and lacking motherly instinct. When several hens are hatching at the same date, it will often be found prudent, while the chicks are coming out, to transfer all the chicks and eggs from an unruly hen to those that exhibit more hen-sense. All empty shells should be removed from the nest at once. Occasionally a chick is unable to get out after it has chipped the shell. The experienced hand can frequently give aid by carefully breaking the shell 36 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. a little more, or tearing the tough surrounding mem. brane. Caution and experience are needed in the operation. Eggs late in hatching are benefited by putting them for a few minutes in warm water tempered to about 103 degrees. If containing live chicks they will be seen to move in the water. If the chicks are dead they willremain perfectly still. After this warm bath the eggs should be put back at once under the hen without suffering them to become chilled. Never in atly case take all the chicks from the nest of a hen that is afterwards to be used as the mother of a brood; and if the chicks are of several colors, leave at least one of each color in the nest. Attention to these points will avoid trouble when the brood is returned to her. Chicks taken from the nest should be put in a basket covered with woolen cloth, and placed near a stove. Do not remove from the nest until their down ‘is dry. Such as show unusual weakness may be revived by pouring down their throats a few drops of warm, new milk. Strong chicks need no food for twenty-four hours after hatching. If this time expires before it is con- venient to return them to the hen, they may be fed in a box by a sunny window, and be put in their basket nest again until evening. The hen and her ‘‘sample lot’? may, in the meanwhile, be fed near the nest. After dark the rest of the brood should be returned to her, and by the next morning mother and chicks are ready for the coop, which should be ready for the brood. In cold weather it is best to set coops in an open CHICKS WITH HENS. 37 shed. They should always be set on a dry, slightly elevated location, so that they cannot be flooded by a sudden rainfall. Where the soil is at all wet they should be set ona platform made by nailing boards on two pieces of scantling. This platform should be of such a size that the sides of the coop will just fit overit. If allowed to extend outside of the walls the rain from the roof will keep the floor damp. While the styles of coops are as numerous as their makers, the one here illustrated, having roof with double pitch and trianguiar ends, is as cheap and serviceable asany. To make it, take four pieces of 2 x 3 scantling, cut exactly 33 inches long and halved together at the top at such an angle as to make the base line of the front extend three feet. The coop is made two feet deep, thus giving a floor space of 2 x 3 feet. The roof may be covered by regular siding, or by fillis- tered barn boards cut into lengths of 2 feet 2 inches. The rear wall is boarded up solid, the front half way down, and the lower half is slatted. 5 oe 6/0) Silke fe eae ry Fay DECOY DEO AC a ele ae a ek S:163."" TOR! ea aes 16.166 lbs. or, in round numbers, sixteen pounds of the mixture. SNYOHDH'T NMOUd AWOO-H’IONIS ‘ITIA HLV’Id CHAPTER IX. THE FARMER’S FLOCK. Give the hen a good chance to scratch and she will raise that morigage for you. A hen will eat anything a hog will eat and make a good deal better use of it.—Tim’s Wife. The larger part of all the eggs and poultry sold in the markets of the great cities and smaller towns comes from the farmer’s flock. The amount from each is small, but the aggregate immense. When proper attention is given to this flock the profit is as large, if not larger, than from any other part of the farm operations. The mistake of keeping too small a number of fowls is sometimes, though rarely, made. Fowls, with their omnivorous and voracious appetites, are excellent scavengers, and if allowed the privileges of the prem- ises will utilize much that would otherwise go to waste. This wastage on large farms is sufficient to supply a flock of one hundred laying hens three-fourths of all the food they need; if but ten or neat be kept there will be more or less loss. The much more frequent mistake is made of over- stocking. The wastage is consumed, the crops in the vicinity of the buildings are destroyed, large quanti- ties of grain in addition are fed, the houses are crowded to suffocation, and the ground in the entire circle of the farm buildings becomes befouled. All may go 68 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. well for a few years and then disease invades and dis- aster comes, and the farmer arrives at the conclusion that there is no profit in chickens. The size of the flock should be regulated by the circumstances’ surrounding each case. Large stock farms where large quantities of grain are used, where there is plenty of grass, numerous shelter-sheds and no truck gardens near the house, furnish favorable conditions for keeping a large flock with profit.- : — Dairy farms, also, where grass and skim - milk are avail- able, will support eco- / nomically a big flock of lay- ~~. ing hens or grow capons of good quality. One who follows trucking or small fruit growing must limit his flocks or confine them in yards during the grow- ing and fruiting season, which adds to the ex- pense and care. If PxTER TUMBLEDOWN’S POULTRY properly managed the Seer expense and care will be repaid, because on such farms there is a con- siderable offal that can be -utilized for poultry food. Too little care is given by the average farmer to the breeding of his flock. The quickest way to raise the standard of such a flock with little expense is to cull out and sell old, broken down, scrubby and infer- THE FARMER’S FLOCK. 69 ior specimens and mate the balance with pure-bred males. If it is desired to increase the size use males a /ittle larger than the common stock. Very large males should never be used with small or medium hens. If the hens are large and heavy use a male a little smaller. This process may be continued to ad- vantage each year, but always use pure-bred and never the cross-bred males. The pure-bred birds may be hatched from eggs bought or they may be pur- chased late in summer or autumn from breeders who will sell such as are slightly off color, or have some slight defect in comb or in other minor points that do not affect their value as a farmer’s fowl. In planning and erecting farm buildings too little attention is given to providing proper shelter for poultry. While elaborate and costly structures are not re- quired, they should be storm proof, free from drafts in cold weather, have ample ground-floor space, and be convenient for the attendant. The last point should not be overlooked, since a very little saving of time and labor each day of the three hundred and sixty-five, amounts to a considerable sav- ing in the year, and this may be accomplished by a small additional outlay at the start. The style, size and cost must be determined by the buildet’s needs, taste and pocket-book. ‘There is no ‘‘ best’ house for all situations and all persons. A few are given rather as suggestions than as models to copy. The style illustrated by Figure 1 is economical of 70 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. lumber, as it consists chiefly of roof. It will be an advantage, especially on low ground or clayey soil, to have the floor filled in six or eight inches deep with cinders or broken stone and covered with gravel or sand. The ventilator is for summer use alone and should be tightly closed in winter. The cut repre- sents a house twelve by sixteen feet, set on a wall two feet high, the point of the roof being eight feet above the floor. Figure 2 exhibits a good type of house for general use. As will appear from the illustration it has two enclosed apartments with an open shed in the center. Both the apartments Fz being raised thirty in- ches from the ground the whole floor space is available as a scratch- ing-room. ‘The house is twelve by twenty- FIG. 2. four feet, the shed and end parts being eight by twelve feet each. One end is the roosting-room, and the other the laying and hatching-room. The fowls reach these rooms when the doors areshut by means of cleated boards extending from the ground to an opening in the | , floor. A passageway from one to the other eighteen inches wide and enclosed by wire netting is shown in the cut along the rear wall of theshed. Figure 3 shows the plan of this house. A serviceable and good all-around house is shown at Figure 4. A good width for a building of this character is eighteen feet, this allowing three feet for THE FARMER’S FLOCK. 71 the hall or passageway in the rear, nine feet for the main house and six fect for the scratching-rocm or shed. Figure 5 shows how this house may be divided for two flocks. The nests are accessible from the hall. It is always convenient to have a yard of generous dimensions, securely enclosed, in which it is possible to confine the flock while crops are young, or when- ever desirable to do so. This yard should be large enough to plow with a horse and be planted with plum or peach trees, and grape vines to afford shade in hot weather, Fie. s. and for growing fruit. The matter of fencing the poultry yard may be left in the hands of the owner, with the suggestion that it is cheapest in the end to build a substantial fence at the start. The cheapest temporary and mov- able fence that can be erected is one of wire netting. This should have posts every eight feet, a board at the bottom, but no rail or board at the top. The posts need not be heavy. The farmer’s flock should have as careful feeding and attention as any other stock on the farm. To in- sure such attention some one member of the family should take the matter in hand and make it his or her business. Regularity in feeding is essential to the best results. Economical feeding means that all the wastes of the family table, the dairy, the garden and the field should be turned into eggs and poultry meat. FIG. 4. 72 BIGGLE POULTRY BOOK. NEST NOTES. | Use small hens to hatch thin-shelled eggs. | The best feed for sitting hens is corn. They should have clean water and gravel and access to dry earth. They need Little else. If the hen deserts the nest for a few hours and allows the eggs to become chilled, do not throw the eggsaway. Let them have another trial ; ; they will HANGING stand exposure for a long while and yet hatch well. NEST. Whatever else you do, don’t follow the stereotyped advice in poultry books and papers to make the nests of sitting hens on the ground—not, at least, before June. In April showers look after the young broods. A ‘‘saturated solution ’’ of chicken is N. G., except for soup. Boil beef or pork cracklings with small potatoes, add corn meal, mash all together and make a dish fit for the chickens of a king. The most acceptable lays of spring are furnished by the hens. It is bad policy to keep the big, slow-motioned fowls and the small, nervous, quick-motioned breeds together in one flock. They require different feeding and treatment; they do not har- monize. A hen’s teeth are in her gizzard. Sand, gravel and like sub- stances are the teeth. Keep them sharp. A state of fear and excitement is unfavorable to egg produc- tion. Every movement among a flock of hens should be gentle. The wide-awake poultry keeper is up and around among oe flocks early in the morning and late in the evening. Drinking water in cold weather should be neither hot nor ice-cold, but simply cool, and always clear and fresh. A GENERAL-PURPOSE HEN. PLATE IX. D | * Ye. a 6.2 x S NCILED HAMBURG EK GOLDEN-P R POLISH E SILV CHAPTER X. THE VILLAGE HENNERY. In cold weather keep your eyes open and the cracks tn the hen house closed.—Hartriet. The hen turns grass into greenbacks, grain into gold, and even coins silver out of sand. Persons living in towns and villages may often- times find pleasure and profit in keeping a small flock of poultry. The mistake most frequently made by those who undertake to do so is in attempting to keep too many. When confined in small yards they become unhealthy and unproductive ; if permitted to roam they become a nuisance in the neighborhood and a prolific source of unneighborly feeling and of disputes which only a justice of the peace can settle. To maintain a peaceful mind and a quiet com- munity attention should be paid to the variety of fowls kept, and to the yard fences. ‘The Asiatic breeds are particularly fitted by their quiet nature and indisposition to rove for stocking a village hennery. They not only thrive better in close confinement than the smaller and more active breeds, but are more easily confined.