M7 i9l3 MEMORIAL POULTRY LIBRARY CORNELL UMIVERSITY ■fHE eiff Of F?^y»V«v»V»vWWmVWyY»VWvWv»VvW7«V' ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges OF Agriculture and Home Economics AT Cornell University Cornell University Library SF 487.B856 1913 Profits in poultry keeping solved; the Br 3 1924 003 153 610 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003153610 THC BRIGG8 8Y^STE.7yt PROFITS JN P0DLT1¥KEEPING ^ EDGAR, BRIGG« FIFTH E.DITIQN TPiEA.D.HOSTER>lAN CO. kSPRIT^GPIELA OHIO 1913 Worth Looking Into THE "Briggs' Method" is a good thing and the publishers want many more agents to handle this book and also POULTRY SUCCESS The Twentieth Century Poultry Magazine Very attractive terms are offered and every agent can build up a nice trade. Other works to follow will make it well worth while to get an agency in your local- ity and work faithfully. See Back Cover Page for our list of Books and Special Offers. Profits Are Large and Orders Come Easy WRITE AT ONCE •THE ■ A. D. Hosterman Co., Springfield, Ohio JtOV 15 1948 '" ■ '-"" -\ PROFITS IN POULTRY KEEPING SOLVED " 8 -fc THE BRIGGS' SYSTEM AND SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL POULTRY RALSING An Economical, Labor Saving, Profit Assuring Systenn of Poultry Raising EDITED BT HENRY TRAFFORD EDITOR POULTRY SUCCESS -|«.^'* FIFTH EDITION 1913 THE A. T>. H08TERMAN COMPANY PUBIjISHEB < SPKINGFIELD, OHIO * BINGHAMTON, N. T. ^ fi 8't34 CONTENTS PAGR CHAPTER I — Briggs' Poultry Plant - " CHAPTER n — Failures and How to Avoid Them 10 CHAPTER HI — How to Erect and Run a Poultry Plant for Profit 12 CHAPTER IV -Location of a Plant 1^ CHAPTER V — Laying Out a Plant - 13 CHAPTER VI — Specifications for the Model Laying House - 15 CHAPTER VH — Directions for Constructing the Model Laying House 15 CHAPTER VHI — Making of Hoppers 20 CHAPTER IX — Care of Layers - - 21 CHAPTER X — An Egg Plant for Profit 22 CHAPTER XI — Processed Feeds and How to Produce Them 26 CHAPTER XII — Summer Care .... 31 CHAPTER XIII —A Free Range Plant with Least Labor 34 CHAPTER XIV — Caring for a Yarded Plant - 36 CHAPTER XV — How to Build an Ideal Incubator House 38 CHAPTER XVI — How to Run an Incubator 38 CHAPTER XVII — Chicks raised Nature's Way - 41 CHAPTER XVIII — Hatching Baby Chicks for Market 45 CHAPTER XIX — A Perfect Brooder 46 CHAPTER XX — Raising Broilers — Bowel Trouble, It's Cause and Cure 49 CHAPTER XXI - Cold and Roup - - 52 CHAPTER XXII — Caring for a Plant where Wheat or Screenings Cannot be Bought ... 53 CHAPTER XXIII — When and How to Start in Poultry Business 54 CHAPTER XXIV -A Leghorn Plant for Profit ■ 56 CHAPTER XXV — A White Wyandotte Plant for Profit - 59 CHAPTER XXVI — A Combination Plant for Profit, Fruit, Poul- try and Bees - - 62 CHAPTER XXVII — Loss of Breeders During Heavy Laying Season 63 CHAPTER XXVIII — Molting - - - - 64 CHAPTER XXIX — Feeding and Selection of Large Breeds Important - - 65 CHAPTER XXX — To Erect a Yarded Plant - 67 CHAPTER XXXI — Fireless Brooder. Tricks of the Trade, etc. r,S CHAPTER X.XXII- Duck Ctilture .... 69 CHAPTER XXXIII -Packing Eggs for Hatching and Market 72 CHAPTER XXXIV — Telling the Sex . 73 CHAPTER XXXV — Keeping Eggs Clean in the Nests 74 CHAPTER XXXVI — Summary 74 Briggs' "Secrets in Poultry Culture" Secret of Success in Handling Early Chicks 79 Secret of Raising Late Hatched Chicks 79 Secret of Large Egg Yield - 80 Secret of Feeding Unthreshed Grain in Winter 81 Secret of Getting Eggs Every Month 82 Secret of Curing White Diarrhoea 83 Secret of Curing Gapes - - 84 Secret Formula for Lice Powder 84 Secret for Making Liquid Lice Killer 85 Secret of Raising Turkeys - - 86 Secret of Dry Mash for Baby Chicks ^ 86 Secret of Dry Mash for Laying Fowls . , 87 Brigos' "Secrets in Poultry Culture"- Continued. Secret of Egg Preserving Formula 87 Secret of Breeding for Layers 88 Secret of Telling the Laying Hen 89 Secret of Fattening Poultry 89 Setret of Breaking up Brooding Hens 89 Secret of Molting Fowls Early - - 91 Secret of Preparing White Birds for Exhibition 91 Secret of Feeding Salt - 92 Results - - 94 Index of Subjects 95 ILLUSTRATIONS Portrait of Author, Edgar Briggs - . 4 Home of Author, and Experimental Plant 9 General View Briggs' Poultry Plant 11 The Briggs' Model Laying House - 14 Frame of Briggs' Model Laying and Brooder House 16 Diagram of End of Laying House 18 Section of Nest Boxes - 19 Feed Hopper, End and General View 20 Section of Briggs' Poultry Farm, Arrangement, Etc. 23 Typical White Wyandotte Cock - 24 Series of Bins for Sprouting Oats and Grain 27 Sectional View Briggs' Poultry Plant - 2S Natural Drainage Characteristic of Briggs' Poultry Farm 30 Group of Laying Houses - 32 Prize Winning Barred Plymouth Rock Cock 33 Prize Winning White Plymouth Rock Cock 35 Black Orpington, First Prize, .\llentown. Pa. - 37 First Prize White Minorca Hen at Madison Square, New York 39 A Perfect Brooder - 46 One Half of Brooder from Center to Back 4-7 Brooder Complete Except Hover 48 Trio of Prize Winning White Leghorns - 49 Colony House Showing Portion of Brooder 50 Interior View of the Briggs' Model Laying House 55 Pair of Winning Silver Laced Wyandottes 5S Typical Heads of Male and Female White Wyandottes 61 An Ideal Location— Partial \'iew of the Briggs' Farm 66 End View of the Briggs' Model Laying House 77 Buflf Orpington Cock, First at Philadelphia - 78 High Class S. C. White Leghorn Cock - - SI Barred Plymouth Rock Male, Showing Fine Shape and Barring S3 Barred Plymouth Rock Hen of Fine Type - So Famous Pen of S. C. White Leghorns S7 Silver Duck Wins Leghorn, First at Madison Square 90 S. C. Rhode Island Red - - - 92 Well Bred S. C. White Leghorn Cock 93 Copyright 1913 by THE A. D. HOSTEEMAN COMPANY First Edition Copyright 1906. Second Edition Copyright 9907. Third Edition Copyright 1908. Fourth Edition Copyright 1910. EDGAR BRIGGS Author of " Profits in Poultry Keeping Solved " and " Secrets in Poultry Culture " For a quarter of a century Mr. Briggs has been investigating and experimenting. He has worked out a "method" of successful poultry raising, and gives in this boolt, secrets and easily-followed short-cuts and labor-saving methods, that makes him, as he has been called, "the Thomas A. Edison of the poultry world." INTRODUCING MR. BRtGGS. In the way of introduction to those who have never heard of me or of my new methods, it is perhaps advisable that I should say something about myself. 1 was born a poul- tryman ; my father before me bred fancy stock all his life and from a small boy I gathered eggs, took charge of the poultry, exhibited them at the country fairs and had birds of my own. I have bred fancy stock all my life and tried the winter broiler business with fatal results, as hundreds of others have done. This led me to experimenting and also stud3'ing nature's methods to see if there was not some way in which they could be raised on a large scale without such great loss. The result is, after fifteen years of careful experimenting, I have solved the problem and am now able to put any poultry plant on a paying basis, regardless of location or other obstacles. Plants that went out of business on account of using the ordinary methods have started up under my new methods and have had wonderful success. The first edition of my book which was put on the market seven years ago has all been sold, as well as the second edition of 3,000 copies in 1907; and the third edition of 5,000 copies in 1908, and the fourth edition of 10,000 copies in 1910, and now the fifth edition of 10,000 copies becomes necessary. My great feed, for such it is, at 15 cents or less per bushel, will make any plant pay. After experimenting with processed oats, my main feed for 15 years, I consider I now have as near a perfect feeding system as can be obtained for either a yarded or free-range plant. Follow my methods and my instructions as laid down in this book, and success is certain. Read every line carefully. You cannot go wrong. A fortune awaits everyone who builds one of my free-range plants, as they are bound to pay a handsome profit under my system of care and feeding. Very truly yours, EDGAR BRIGGS, Author. Dated December, 1912. EXPLANATION BY THE EDITOR In editing and arrangins: this, the fifth edition of "PRO- FITS IN POULTRY KEEPING SOLVED," by Edgar Briggs, it seems fitting and proper that I should make an explanation both in justice to Mr. Briggs, the author, and myself. During the entire work of editing this, and former edi- tions of the "Briggs Book," which is another and familiar name applied to "PROFITS IN POULTRY KEEPING SOLVED," it has been a constant aim and desire on my part to preserve Mr. Briggs' characteristic style of expressing him- self, and not in any wise, at any time, to interpose or make use of my own style in writing. In a fev/ instances, how- ever, it has been impossible to avoid such interpositions. To my mind, if I were to have robbed Mr. Briggs' manu- script of that peculiar characteristic style he has of express- ing hi.mself in writing, it would have likewise robbed this and other editions of his book, which I have edited, of a large amount of its interest and charm and would have been an injustice to him. Mr. Briggs lays no claims to being a classic writer, and his book therefore should not be compared with this class of books and publications, but is rather the written record of the actual experience of Mr. Briggs upon his own poultry farm, in his words. I have visited Mr. Briggs' poultry farm on several oc- casions, and have been given each time carte blanc to go ahead and investigate and find out all I could about his busi- ness, and as a result of these visits and investigations I can say without the least hesitancy at all, that Mr. Briggs is con- ducting the most practical and profitable poultry plant, for the amount of capital expended for labor and maintenance, that there is in existence today. In other words Mr. Briggs' poultry plant is, without doubt, turning him in a larger pro- fit on capital invested than any other poultry business to be found in this or any other country. I would not say this if I were not in possession of information which bears me out fully. Not only do the publishers of this hook, but Mr. Briggs also, extends an invitation to every interested person to| visit his poultry plant at Pleasant Valley, N. Y., and investigate for themselves. The Briggs' Poultry Plant is a living, exist- ing reality, where big things are being accomplished in the poultry business. HENRY TRAFFORD, Editor. PROFITS IN POULTRY KEEPING SOLVED CHAPTER I Briggs' Poultry Plant In the summer of 1909 I transferred to the publishers of "Poultry Success," of Springfield, Ohio, the right, title, and ownership of the copyright and property of this book, and all future editions ; and entered into a contract to continue my investigations and experiments, and to include all my new ideas, discoveries and secrets in new and revised editions of "Profits in Poultry Keeping Solved," to be published by "Poultry Success." Under this arrangement the revised Fourth Edition was published by The A. D. Hosterman Com- pany, publishers of "Poultry Success," in the Fall of 1910. The object of myself and the publishers is to get out a new edi- tion as often as it seems advisable, so as to give the public the benefit of my latest experiments which have proved of value. In 1908 I bought a farm of 60 acres upon which I have since lived and carried on my experiments. This farm was especially adapted to building one of my free range plants upon, and where I could entertain my friends, who are always welcome and made to feel at home. I am now keeping on my plant nearly 2,000 layers of the very choicest Single Comb White Ixghorns to be found in this country, and these are housed and cared for exclusively on my famous free range system. These, with over 2,000 more, mated on outside farms are all cared for in the same manner as those at home. Thus I am in fine shape to handle my trade in eggs for hatching in large and small lots, be- sides babj' chicks in season. I now have 38 houses on my home plant for poultry alone, both old and young. I have 14 colony houses, 8 x 16, where all my young stock is raised on free range. These colony houses are in rows upon a four-acre field, divided by a four-foot wire-netting fence from my layers, and this ground is set out to peach and plum trees which gave us a fine crop of fruit this year, and makes an ideal place for growing young stock. 8 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF I spare no pains or expense in growing my young birds. My aim is to restock part of my plant each year with pullets which are about one year old when the breeding season starts, and I also raise several hundred grand cockerels for breed- ing, which I have a large market for. Nearly all my pullets are hatched in February and March, which means that I hatch from my greatest layers, as the best layers will be lay- ing in January and February. The poorer the layer the later in the Spring will she start to lay. No eggs laid contain great- er vitality than those laid first, so in this way I am not only developing a heavy laying strain, but birds of the greatest health and vigor. I have at present 23 laying houses, all filled with Single Comb White Leghorns of the highest quality. Most of these houses carry 75 layers each. In front of my dwelling, across the highway, I have a five-acre field with a fine stream of water running through it, making one of the most natural locations to be found hereabouts for -poultry. I carry nearly 1,000 layers in this field. They are one-year-old Single Comb White Leghorns of exceptional quality. This ground is com- posed of sand and gravel — a more perfect soil cannot be found for poultry. The balance of my layers are kept on high lime^ stone ground under my special system of cultivation, and gives grand results. I have also built, since the last edition of my book came out, a large incubator house, 30 x 30, on a side-hill. The basement is filled with incubators, and the ujjper story is used for a feed house. I also use the basement of this house for processing my oats. During 1913 I contemplate buildmg another large in- cubator house, 20 X 75, or larger, to hold two mammoth in- cubators, as my baby chick business is outgrowing my present capacity. I will run 35 290-egg incubators during 1913, and expect to be able to ship 70,000 baby chicks. Visitors are welcome at my poultry plant any day except Sunday. Do. not fail to pay me a visit if you come this way. My place is located three-quarters of a mile from Pleasant Valley depot, on the old P. E, R. R., now owned and run by the New York, New Haven 8z Hartford R. R. All trains from Poughkeepsie Bridge Depot stop at Pleasant Valley. To reagh my place from station, turn to left, walk to hotel past the front and turn to the left, walk north by the hotel and straight ahead until you reach my place — fifteen minutes walk from the depot. If notified I will meet you at the sta- tion with my automobile. POULTRY RAISING w w tli 3 w 2 o M O If ►J R > % H M o o » a ' f > g^ ►< >a S S P t> >• cn Z > s > > c^ s r z w ^--^ >•-■ o o s^ S w 10 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF CHAPTER II Failures and How to Avoid Them. — Secrets of Success I feel that I must say a few words at this time to the old poultry raisers, as well as to the new ones. It may sur- prise many to know that some of the largest poultry plants in the country have gone out of business in the last few years simply because they tried to run their plants contrary to or against nature. I took a| little trip in August of 1911, and visited some of these large plants and observed enough to convince me as to why they failed. As a rule they are so pressed for cash early in the Spring they sell too closely the eggs produced for hatch- ing and for baby chicks. The result is they keep none for their own plant until May and June, and their own plant is therefore stocked with a lot of late-hatched weakly chicks wfhich they try to grow up for next season's breeders. The result is a lot of undersized pullets lacking in stamina, are placed in their yards for breeders. This plan is followed for two or three years and the next thing is a lot of sick birds full of roup and the plant is out of business. Late-hatched chicks have not the stamina, and being weakly are subject to all the diseases known. My birds grow in vigor each year and are among the greatest layers in this country, and there is no reason why others cannot do the same if they follow my methods. There is no other way to my mind, that one can build up a success- ful poultry plant ; orte that will pay a profit for years to come. Labor is another item that has helped to put many of the large plants out of business. You may ask why I do not built up a plant capable of carrying 10,000 layers. I will tell you. Competent labor cannot be found, and I prefer to handle only what business I can look after personally, for in no other way can you do a satisfactor}' business with the pub- lic. I personally pick out all stock shipped from my plant, as well as pack all eggs, crate all bab}' chicks, and personally look after every detail. In this way I have built up a won- derful business, a thing anyone ought to be able to do if they give it the same personal care. I conduct my plant so as to produce the greatest layers and at the same time get more vigorous birds yearly. My first eggs are placed in the incubators so as to hatch the last Saturday in February. This i.s m}' hatch and these chicks are kept on the place. . POULTRY RAISING 11 The next eggs are put in to come off the next week on Monday that is nine days from the first. With this hatch 1 fill all remaining brooders on my plant. The balance are used to fill my first baby chick orders. I have thus placed out chicks to replace my breeders be- fore I ship out a single baby chick order, and the result is my pullets are all hatched from the very best layers on my plant, for the greatest layers are always laying in January and February and the eggs laid during these two months hatch chicks with the vigor and stamina of the hen. These chicks just live and grow from the start, and be- gin to lay in July and August, and lay a number of eggs until in (Dctober or about November Lst, when many of them i ' ■•■■,':■ '■"^'-^ MLS^-^^'- v--i^^ '■r*''^ 5^^*!^-- icm^''ty:'f ^^■^^y'^'": GENERAL VIEW OF BRIGGS' POULTRY PLANT Operated according to the system described in this book will pass through a moult, and when they start to laying again in January they are yearling hens and make the very choicest of breeders. In this way you can depend on your poultry plant being a success. This is truly the secret of success of any plant. *Crel Oil is very important to use in keeping all germs and lice down. Also Little Red Hen Tonic should always be kept on hand in cases of emergency. "Editor's Note : — "Crel OH" is manufactured by the Caledonia Chemical Company, Caledonia, New York. 12 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF CHAPTER III How to Erect and Run a Poultry Plant for Profit I will now tell 3'ou how to erect and run a poultry plant on an entirely new system for saving labor and money mak- ing. A plant for the farmer as much as the business man; a plant that can be run by an amateur, so that without ex- perience it can be made to pay a profit from the start. It is conceded by men who know, that ninety-five out of every one hundred who start make a failure in the poultry business. The reason for this is because they go entirely opposite to nature in caring for them. A hen in her wild state roosts in trees and feeds on seeds of various kinds, worms and insects of every description, and when you shut her up in a yard you make a prisoner of her. Under these conditions she is fed on mashes of various kinds until she is sick and out of condi- tion and the natural result or consequence is she does not lay more than Y^. the eggs she is capable of doing, in some cases not an ^%%,. Hens kept under such conditions in many cases die of roup or cholera or other malignant diseases. Another very important thing we can learn from the hen in her wild state is that she always lays her brood of eggs during the spring time, hatches and raises her chicks when the ground gives up a crop of worms and various other in- sects, and by the time the chicks are fit to wean, dry weather of summer comes on and worms and insects become scarce, and the result is the hen lays no more eggs during the year. Now, in order to keep hens laying the year round, we must produce spring-time conditions the year round. And there is nothing that can take the-p]ace of insects equal to green cut bone but this is very hard to obtain in most places, and especially on a large scale, therefore, as a rule,- we must use beef scraps in place of it. CHAPTER IV Location First of all we must have a suitable location. This is a very important thing if you are going in the poultry business for profit. If you do not own a farm and wish to buy one, by all means spend some time and get one suitable for the busi- ness. I advise not less than fifty to seventy-five acres. One POULTRY RAISING 13 with a nice big orchard on it is most desirable. By all means get a place with one or more streams of water running through it, and if these streams are fed by springs so much the better. Under no circumstances buy a place for the poul- try business unless it is well watered, for this is where a great amount of labor saving comes in, moreover, the poultry will do much better — this is nature. Get a place, if possible, sloping to the south, with gravel- ly or sandy soil. Sixty acres will carry five thousand layers nicely and leave room enough to raise six thousand young- sters if it is laid out right, besides furnish pasture for your horses and cows, leaving room for garden and various other things you will want on a farm. An ideal poultry farm should be inclosed with a five-foot fence of wire netting and two barb Avires over this. It should also have a base board of rough hemlock sunk two inches or more below the surface of the ground. This makes a plant practically proof against all kind of animals, and there is nothing that has more enemies than chickens. This is all the fence you will need on your plant, as a rule, unless you go into fancy breeding or wish to divide your cockerels and pullets, in this case you should fence in the fields. Your hens must have free range if you want results and you should remember the profit lies in eggs. Therefore, an egg plant is what you must have to make money. A plant of this kind laid out right and handled pro- perly can be run by the labor of one man most of the time, as under my system labor is reduced to the minimum. High cost of labor has put more poultry plants out of businss than any other one thing. CHAPTER V Laying Out a Plant Build the laying houses on both sides of the stream of water far enough away to keep on high ground. Put your houses 60 tol 75 feet apart according to your ground, allowing (from 60 to 75 Leghorns to a house; or fifty Wyandottes, Rocks or the larger breeds. Colonize your flocks in this man- ner, then you will have no further trouble, as nearly every hen will go in her own house. To flock or colonize them, put your hens in the house and keep them shut up for three days, letting them out on the third day one hour before dark. Y'our hens get acquainted 14 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF in the three days they are shut up together and will ever after that run together and return to their own house to lay and roost. After trying houses of various kinds and styles, I have never found one that suits me so well as the one illus- trated below and will later describe. I consider it the most perfect house built at the present time — and also the cheapest of construction. POULTRY- RAISING 15 CHAPTER VI Specifications for the Model Laying House Following is a list of the lumber that is required to build a house, such as is referred to in the preceding chapter: Three chestnut planks, 2 by 8 by 20 feet long. Thirty-three boards, 1 by 8 by 16 feet long, tongued and grooved. Thirty-three boards, 1 by 8 by 14 feet long, tongued and grooved. Twelve hemlock, 2 by 4 by 20 feet long. Five 2 by 3, ten feet long, for roosts. Three windows, one 8 by 10 glass, six panes each and 2 canvas covered frames. This house is ten feet wide, twenty feet long, four feet high at eaves, with double pitched roof made of tongued and grooved boards, so that roofing of any kind is not required. A roof of this kind will never leak, to any amount, if put up with lumber well dried out. Cypress is the best of all lumber for these nouses as it will stand the weather far better than any other kind, and will last for many years without decaying. White pine is the next best and the only other kind of lumber that can be successfully used where no lining paper or roofing paper is used. Second quality lumber will answer every purpose if you use judgment in cutting it and putting it on, but you must have your lumber good and dry, so it will not shrink apart. Use the best lumber on north side and end of house. A view of the frame illustrated elsewhere will aid you very much in building your first house. CHAPTER VIT Directions for Constructing the Model Laying Housei. I will now try to tell ^j-ou very plainly how to construct these houses, so that anyone that can use a saw and hammer ought to be able to build them. First square up two planks twenty feet long, then take your third -plank and make two planks ten feet long each Now spike your twenty-foot plank on your ten-foot plank, using twenty-penny nails, and you have a box twenty feet long and ten feet four inches wide outside measure. 10 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF Saw six pieces of 2 by 4, four feet long, then saw out each one of these 2 by 8. These make your corner posts and also your center posts. Spike these firmly on your plank box, one 'in each corner, and one in the center of house, letting the 2 by 8 piece come on your plank. Nail from inside and let flat side come towards ends. This will make your outside even. Then saw four pieces 3 feet 4 inches long to double your corners with. These nail from plank up on each end. This will make them all even on ends and sides. Now take a 2 by 4, just 20 feet long, nailing one on each side flatways on top of your uprights even with ends and outside. Now take a 2 by 4 ten feet four inches long, saw two inches out of each end, drop this in center of house on your plank, which drops bot- tom two inchesl below level of plank ; spike firmly both ways. This keeps your house from spreading and is also a division. Take a 2 by 4 nine feet eight inches long, spike this at end of house, opposite end from door, between your 2 by 4 even with top of plate. This piece stays and keeps your end from spreading and is also used to nail your end boards to. Now take two more 2 by 4, saw ten feet three inches long. ILLUSTRATION OF FRAME J t V - ic ft /Qyic :i t t/ ~ 3n H I ti f \ \ 1\ '^ - lot*- Itrii THE BRIGGS' MODEL LAYING AND BROODING HOUSE l*OULTRY RAISING 17 nail one in center of house to upright under plate, nail the other at end where your door goes in same way, using a twenty-penny nail — just one in each end — as both of these come out after your roof is on. These are used to keep house from spreading and are also used in putting roof on, as we lay a 20-foot plank on them to stand on in nailing the roof on. Now saw two sets of rafters, each rafter 6 feet 8 inches long. Heel must fit on plate and have your top come to- gether nicely. Make a pattern and keep it for future sawing, as you may have trouble fitting the first pair. Nail each set together on ground, then spike firmly on to your plates even with outside in each case. After this, put in a ridge, a 2 by 4, 19 feet 8 inches long. Spike this in peak between your sets of rafters, letting flat side come even with south side of house and upper edge even with peak. Spike finnly through end of rafters, using three spikes in each end. Then fit a pair of rafters in center of house, raising your ridge in center a little above a level. Then put in two cross-pieces, three feet from peak on each side. Spike firmly through end rafters and center rafter, as your roof boards nail on these. Now put in your door studding in center of end. Then make your door about thirty inches wide, according to the width of your boards, and about six feet high. Put in a 2 by 4 on each side, setting bottom on plank and sawing on top to fit under rafter. Now put a short piece on top and you have your frame complete, except a 2 by 4 from door frame to corner of house, to nail your end boards to. Now you are ready for the siding. Take, if you use white pine, 1 by 8, 16 foot boards. Take 16 boards, sawing each in four feet lengths. This gives you 64 boards, four feet long. Begin at a corner, nailing one inch from top of plate, as your roof boards coime over these and just pass it. See that you get your joints perfectly tight. After putting on both sides put on your ends, up and down same as siding. For roof boards saw 14 foot boards one-half inch from center. This makes one-half of the boards just one inch longer than the other. Now plane off thfe groove in first board. Let this project two inches over end of house. Put on the south side first using your shortest boards nailing them about three-eighths of an inch from the peak, as the boards on north side nail over these, and in this case you use no ridge board. Your roof boards should be very dry, and if put firmly together, you will have no leaky roofs. 18 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF ^ IV .^ ^^ y^ Door ■\ i; 10 Ft. DIAGRAM OF END OF HOUSE Next saw out openings for your windows and curtain frames. One opening for each. Just back of the center of the south side cut opening for a glass window, nail a 2 by 4 lengthwise for window to slide on. Put your other opening in towards front from cen- ter about two boards from center of house and under plate, just the same as the window opening was placed and fit a frame covered with muslin instead of sash in this opening. See illustration. Saw a hole for letting out fowls in front part of house under the two openings and put in a slide which may be slid sideways with your feet. Now place your roosts. First, nail a strip up and down seven feet from back end. Put a 2 by 4 block on plank to keep this strip out so window will slide in between. Now nail a seven foot strip from end of house to your short strip sixteen inches below top of plate. Do this on both sides and on these boards lay your roosts 2 by 3 ten feet long. About 5 of these gives sixty hens plenty of room. You can notch your board one inch to lay them in. Do not nail them. Put in your feed hoppers and nests, and your house is practically complete. POULTRY RAISING 19 Nests I will tell you in this connection how to make one of the handiest and best nests I know of, one of my own invention, very simple in construction, one anyone can make, who can use a sawi and hammer. Take a tongued and groov- ed board (yellow pine is the cheapest), 7 1-2 inches wide 16 ft. long sawed in two making two 8 foot lengths. Take 3 of these 8 foot lengths, cleat them together with 4 cleats about 21 inches long leaving 1 inch at back for nest to rest on a long cleat nailed to side of house when nest is put up. Nail another board on top of this in front which forms the front of your nests. Now saw 9 pieces 13 inches long and put one every foot. Nail these inside of board which forms your front by nailing through this board into each strip. At end of these 9 pieces nail a 4 inch strip entire length 8 feet, and you have 8 nests complete. In order to put a steep cover on your nests so no hens can roost upon the nest, you saw 6 boards same length as the bottom of your nests about 22 1-2 inches long, and saw on a slant from back side or from side of house to ILLUSTRATION OF ONE SECTION OF NEST BOXES 20 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF your front board so the nest is about 1 board high in front and 3 boards high in back. For a cover lay your first board even with outer edge of nest. The next board is nailed firmly to the .3 partitions also your next which will come to the sid- ing just under plate; now hinge your first board to second, then all you have to do to get your eggs is to raise your hing- ed board which gives access to all eight nests. The hens enter the nests at either end, on side nearest to wall of j^our house. I nail these nests against back side of house about 18 inches from floor. Leghorn hens easily jump into them. For larger breeds it is best to nail a short board at each end, 4 inches lower than opening. I find this set of 8 nests sufficient for 7S layers. CHAPTER VIII Making of Hoppers Your feed hopper should be made large enough to take a bag of feed of one hundred pounds, sufficient to last a flock of sixty layers near two weeks. To make this, take a common hemlock board, twelve inches wide, for bottom and ends, S/YD V/EW feed Hopper ILLUSTRATION OF FEED HOPPER saw a piece two feet long for bottom, two pieces three feet long for ends. Nail these together. Now use tongued and grooved boards for back and front. To put in j^our back, fit your first board inside of ends, letting it come on bottom in center of hopper and top edge of board even with back of hop- POULTRY RAISING 21 per, putting rest of back boards even with outside. Better put rest of boards on outside. Now for your front put first board one inch from bottom and one inch from your other board letting top of board come even with outside front of feeder, then board up on outside. This lets your feed come out in front. Now put a four-inch strip across front at bottom. This keeps your hens from throwing out the grain. You can also make a three-department box for oyster shells, grit and charcoal, which should be kept before them at all times — grit to grind their feed, oj'ster shells for lime in making shells, etc., and charcoal for a regulator. Another hopper which can be made at small expense and is grand for feeding beef scraps is as follows : Get a box at grocery store, say 15 inches long, S inches wide, and 10 or 12 inches high ; now board this box up tight ; only leave a 3-inch opening across entire front of box at top. Fill this box with beef scraps ; hang on a nail by boring a hole near the top and your hens can eat until it is empty and no bother about clogging. Other sizes of boxes will work just the same. You can use one double this size for other feed. Your hens put their heads in this 3-inch opening and eat. Hang box close to the ground. These boxes will cost you nothing at grocery stores where you trade. CHAPTER IX Care of Layers I will now tell you how to care for three thousand layers with but little labor, so you should clear $3,000 a year from them. If you have built your plant on a stream of water you will have no watering to do. Keep your feed boxes filled at all times. Never let them get empty. Your main feed is to be! the best quality of wheat screen- ings, or a cheap grade of wheat. Your large hopper will take a one-hundred-pound bag of feed which should last a full week, often two weeks. You should make a round every week and fill all your hoppers — one with wheat screenings, one with beef scraps, and your three-department hopper with grit, oyster shells and charcoal. If your plant is built on a stream and inclosed with a good wire-netting fence, all the work you have to do during 22 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF the week is to gather your eggs every night and at the same time give each flock of fowls two quarts of cracked corn in Htter. Remember your fowls should have wheat feed before them all the time so they can safely have a light feed of grain every night. A horse and wagon should be used for making the rounds at all times. A good gentle horse that can be left standing and is not afraid of anything is what you want. From November until April you will have to make two trips a day to your houses. As cold weather comes on your windows and curtain fronts will have to be closed nights and should be opened again in the morning when the sun shines and warms things up. On this same trip you should give your hens all the processed oats they will eat — about four quarts to each colony of birds. In case of heavy snow storms your hens can eat snow and they will lay just as many eggs as though they got to the brook to drink — and even more. You should keep the end of your house, where your nests, hoppers, etc., are, well bedded during the winter and throw your grain in so as to give them all the exercise pos- sible. CHAPTER X An Egg Plant for Profit To run a large poultry plant for the greatest possible profit, will require correspondingly more labor, but will pay the most profit, labor considered, of anything I know of at the present time. I have experimented to my entire satisfaction, and find that fowls, to be kept in perfectly healthy condition, should have free access to feed at all times, and they will lay fully one-third to one-half more eggs a year, — eggs that will hatch, for they will be produced in nature's way. I have found nothing better than good quality wheat screenings, same to be kept before them at all times, so you must keep a hopper of wheat screenings always before them ; also one of beef scraps, giit, oyster shells and charcoal. If possible, in order to get your greatest profit, you should have a free-range plant such as I have described and I pre- fer Leghorns. Of all the Leghorn family there is none that will produce more eggs, larger and finer ones than the Single-Comb White Leghorn. POULTRY RAISING 23 I am positive an average of 200 eggs a hen can be pro- duced under this system of feeding and caring for them. One good man can care for five thousand layers during the summer, providing some one looks after marketing of the eggs. But in winter care, say from Nov. 1 to April 1, it will keep two men busy. My aim is to tell you how to produce eggs the year around in the greatest possible number. I will begin with the winter care, say November 1. when your stock should all be properly housed in the colony houses I haA'e already told you how to build. We will assume you have a Leghorn plant of three to five thousand layers. We usually have much cold weather during November in this part of the state. Of course you will have to vary this part of the system according to your own weather condi- tions. The first thing in the morning as soon after day- light as convenient, start out with a load of processed oats, and give each flock of sixty layers about four quarts. If the morning is warm, open your windows. If cold, leave them closed until next trip, after breakfast, about 8 to 9 a. m. If the morning is cold and freezing, you should take a load of warm water and give each flock enough for the day. 24 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF The finest thing I know of to water a large plant of this kind is a 1 1-2 gallon butter crock. Get the low kind, for they are easily kept clean and require but little labor in lilling. Even if your hens have free access to a stream of water they TYPICAL WHrTE WYANDOTTE COCK should be watered in their houses during the winter if you want a large egg yield. In the morning, when a hen comes off the roost, she is apt to be dry, especially if she is laying, and it is very essential at this time that she should have warm water to drink for cold water chills her and makes her dull and all humped up and the result is your egg yield stops. POULTRY RAISING 25 About one p. m. give each flock all they will eat again of processed oats. Feed this very liberally, as you will find that they will always be hungry for it. You cannot overfeed them on it. This is one of the greatest egg producing feeds I know of, and there is nothing which makes eggs so fertile. Hens will eat processed oats when they will look at no- thing else. It can be produced for fifteen cents a bushel at the highest. I will tell you in my next chapter how to pro- cess the oats in the most convenient time-saving way. This one thing alone is worth hundreds of dollars to any- one who owns a large plant as I will prove to you further on. For your last round, just before sundown, give each .flock two quarts of cracked corn in their litter, to induce more exercise. Gather your eggs and close up your win- dows if cold. If weather is very warm leave your window and muslin curtain open or partly open in scratching part. You must use judgment in these things. A plant cared for this v.'ay during the winter should give you fifty to sixty per cent egg yield right through, providing your pullets are of a laying age and your old hens have pass- ed through their molt. You will see that I feed four times as much processed oats as I do any other kind of feed. Oats to a hen are what oats are to a horse. It gives them vigor and puts life in them, such as no other feed will do. If you follow these instructions to the letter, and use judgment in keeping your houses from getting too warm during the day, you will never fail to bring in a load of eggs every day in the year. Always empty your water jars at night on the last trip, so your liens will always be dry in the morning when you come around with the load of warm water. This is very important. If weather is very cold gather your eggs on your one o'clock trip if you are saving them for hatching. 26 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF CHAPTER XI Processed Feeds and How to Produce Them The most wonderful feed known at the present time is sprouted oats. They are positively one of the greatest egg producers ever discovered and something that will make eggs hatch any time of the year. What would a horse be worth without oats? But very little. They are the same to a hen. The main objection to oats for fowls is their very tough hull, which is very hard to digest, and for this reason alone many people will not feed them to hens. I have experimented very extensi^'ely with oats and have fed them for weeks boiled, with no results in eggs. They make a very good fattening feed when boiled, but are of no value for eggs — simpl)'- put the hens out of laying condition. But when processed, hens eat them in preference to any- thing else. In fact, they will eat them when they will touch nothing else, while on the other hand, they are the last thing to be eaten by the hens in their natural dry state. To process them, take a pail of good, ordinary oats, same as you feed your horses, cover them with water and let them soak five hours in summer and ten hours in' winter, then turn them into a larger pail, one that will hold double the amount. First bore a one-half inch hole in your pail before turning them in, so it will not hold water; leave them in this pail until they sprout thor- oughly and begin to germinate heat, which will be in three or four days if in a moderately warm place. Always keep them covered with an old bag and stir and sprinkle with water once daily. After they become a mass of roots turn into a box holding about five pails. The oats should not be over three or four inches thick in the box. This must also have a couple of one-half inch holes in bottom so water will quickly drain ofif after wetting them each day. They will grow very rapidly when they begin to sprout, and are at their best for feeding when sprouts are one inch to one and one-half inches long. One bushel will make four to five bushels if oats are good and grow as they should. Always keep oats covered with a heavy bag or old blanket to keep them warm, for they will grow much faster, and the sprouts will remain white and very crisp. By feeding when sprouts are only one-half to one inch long you not only get the full nutritive value of your oats, but they also take POULTRY RAISING 27 the place of green feed, and there is nothing I know of which will start hens laying so quickly and will bring so many eggs during the year. Below is shown a series of bins which will be found very useful and handy for processing oats and other grains. I am here simply giving the principle or reason of preparing the feed. TROuaH Serins Oi Bins For SpfoutiM^ Oat's Ai^d Ciratrt-i ILLUSTRATION SHOWING SERIES OF BINS FOR SPROUTING OATS AND GRAINS For growing young chicks there is nothing as good as sprouted oats. Give your little chicks all they will eat twice a day after they are a week old. They are at their best for little chicks when sprouts are one-half inch long. If possible always grow them in a cellar, but in warm weather they can be grown under open sheds, under trees or north side of buildings. They grow at their best in a tem- perature of 60 degrees. For a large plant where you must grow them in large quantities you will find a series of bins the best plan. A large butter tub may be used if desired. Fill tub three- fourths full of grain and fill up with water and let them soak ten hours. If you soak two or three tubs at a time you can dump them all in one barrel, and leave them in this barrel until they sprovit and begin to heat. They should be thor- oughly wet every day so long as they remain in the barrel. 28 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF and as soon as they develop, heat they must be dumped in boxes that have holes in bottom, say 3 to 5 inches thick. Wet and turn daily until ready for feeding. If they get too hot in boxes cool down with cold water and spread out thinner. To have them at their best you should start a lot every day and keep them fed up as fast as they g'et fit. You will soon learn just how many to start every day. A little salt distri- buted through them evenly when fed will greatly increase vour egg yield and keep your hens in the pink of condition — a teaspoonful of salt to a common pailful. As an experi- ment I kept two pens of Leghorns six months on processed ^ J ^>;1f ^^gmglgmiililjlllgllg^ 1 f^^Bh'^^v^^^^^^^^r\JKBS^^^^B^^i ., *'!^l^ ^^al;^^'"^^ ■ '*«!!»"'-%#V w* ^^«>.J*. ^liw . .».^yr--- -.i. - - - BLACK ORPINGTON, FIRST PRIZK, ALLKNTOWN, PA. the morning, the rest of the day they will drink but little at a time and cold water will not hurt them. If your houses have dropping boards you should clean the droppmgs off at least twice a week the year around. In houses I have described for a free-range plant your droppmgs go right on 38 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF the ground, and it is not at all necessary to clean them out oftener than twice a year. So you can see the amount of labor saved. Give water with chill taken oflf only. CHAPTER XV How to Build an Ideal Incubator House 1 have told you in my former chapters how to produce eggs in the greatest possible numbers, eggs that will give you the largest hatches. You will now want to know how to liatch them. First, I will tell you how to build what I con- sider the most perfect incubator house or cellar. Select a side hill if you have one near by ; for a perfect incubator house should be part under and part above ground. You can determine the size of house needed by the number of ma- chines you want to use and the number of chicks you wish to hatch. But it is always safer to build much larger than your present needs, then you will not have to rebuild or en- large when your business grows. First, lay up a wall of stone five feet high on all four sides, putting in windows at the top of your wall, a four-pane window 8 by 10 glass will answer the purpose nicely. Hinge at bottom so they will open inside. Put windows in on each side and at south end. A win- dow every ten feet is about right. Now put a window in each end for ventilation. Put these windows near peak, a six light window, 8 by 10 glass, and in summer these can be left open for ventilation. This makes an ideal incubator house. Throw up dirt on top of wall on all sides, except south end and put in a double door here wide enough to carry out any incubator, set up. The air in such a house as this always smells free from lamp smoke. If you fail to get good hatches in such a house you will know that it is not the fault of the house. CHAPTER XVI How to Run an Incubator First, after setting up your machine and starting your lamp, you must let up or release your regulator. Keep un- screwing it until temperature goes up to 102r^ degrees. Re- member the temperature cannot raise when your disk over the lamp is raised. When you get temperature to 102i/^ and POULTRY RAISING 30 your disk raised one-eight of an inch, or so it just clears, then your machine is ready for the eggs. Better run your machine twenty-four hours after you get your temperature right before putting in the eggs. As soon as you put your eggs in your temperature will disappear ; give your machine twenty-four hours to get back to lOZyi degrees. Regulate ventilation according to directions sent with the machine you use. FIRST PRIZE WHITE MINORCA HEN AT MADISON SQOARE, NEW YORK, SHOW. Chan°-e trays from side to side in the morning and from end to end at night in a two-tray machine, and turn the eggs at end of first day. After this turn twice a day until eight- eenth day. Turn la.st time at end of eighteenth day, but con- tinue to change your tray from side to side and end to end un- til you see the first pip. Handle your eggs very carefully 40 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF from the eighteenth day on, using care not to jar them in changing trays. Remember animal heat begins to take place after the seveutn day and the temperature will begin to work up and you should give the regulating nut part of a turn every time the temperature crawls up to 103, so as to keep it down as near 102^ as possible, if you are operating your machine in a room which registers above 65 degrees; if not over 40 to 45 degrees, then keep your machine at 103 and do not air }our eggs. En a room of 50 to 70 degrees begin airing your eggs on the fifth day and air each night, depending on temperature of room. i A good airing for an hour or two on seventh day will much improve the hatch in warm weather. Give plenty of air during hot weather. Good, fresh eggs hatch much better than those kept two or three weeks. If you are -hatching white eggs test them on the fifth day, and take out all clear eggs and dead germs If you are incubating brown-shelled eggs test them at the end of the seventh day, at which time you can test them nicely. ' 1 All eggs should be tested again at the end of the fifteenth day. Remove all dead eggs and if they do not show a good, fair-sized air cell you must give more ventilation, for a good hatch cannot be had without a good-sized air cell. After you see the first pip do not open your machine again under any circumstances until the hatch is practically through, sa}' the morning of the twenty-first day for Leg- horns and at the end of twenty-first day for all large breeds. Leave chicks in incubator fully twenty-four hours after all are out. I have been experimenting for the past 20 years with in- cubators and have tried nearly all the leading makes riinning them side by side with eggs laid by same flocks of fowls and have given the moisture machines as well as the non- moisture machines ever)' chance by running them through several hatches during an entire season and the results in every case were in favor of the moisture machines, and I shall not use any other kind in the future. In some cases I have hatched every fertile egg with moisture machines. My av- erage hatches from 400 eggs set was 300 to 340 chicks and in many cases not a cripple or deformed one among them. Poultry RATsiNCi 4i CHAPTER XVII Chicks Raised Nature's Way Now comes the most difficult part of all, the business of raising the chicks. Here is where nearly al! fail except those using my System and Secrets. First of all to raise chicks successfully and raise the greatest number you must have a proper place to raise them in. To raise chickens in February and March you must of necessity have a house and for this purpose there is no cheap- er or better house than the colony house I will here describe which should be built exactly like my laying house only 1-5 smaller. Use 16 foot plank, making the houses 8 feet wide and 16 feet long outside measure, four feet high at eaves same as the laying houses. For the roof saw a 16 foot board into three pieces and saw rafters 5 feet. 1 inch long. Build it the same as the laying house dividing it in center with 2 10 inch boards, and you will have an ideal house for raising chicks in. Put windows and curtain opening the same size as you use in the laying houses, one in each side in center of each department. For the curtain opening make a frame out of a furring strip 1 inch by 2 inches and cover with mus- lin, no glass to be used. Have windows so they will slide open towards the door, also put a slide under each' window for let- ting chicks out. In these houses place two of my indoor brooders such as I will give you plain instructions for build- ing in chapter XIX. You can place any number of these houses in a row from 5 to 10 putting them about 30 feet apart. Try to fill one row of houses with chicks as near the same age as possible. All should be hatched within 2 or 3 weeks of each other. You can put 150 to 200 chicks in each house. To raise chicks on a large scale, say from three to six thousand, you must keep some one among them all the time, if you do not want them all carried awa}' by hawks and crows and various other animals, as there is nothing that has so many enemies as young chicks. Hawks, crows, rats, wea- sels, cats, skunks, wood chucks in rare cases, raccoons and foxes are the worst. Select a nice, large orchard if possible for raising chicks if you have one ; if not you must arrange for artificial shade. About sixty feet in front of the row of houses put a one and one-half foot fence of one inch mesh wire netting; then an- other row of houses about eight feet from this fence; then another fence, same as the other. 42 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF It makes no difference how many brooders you have in line, twenty could be handled all right if they were all filled with chicks at nearly the same time. If the field is nearly level they will equalize themselves all right in the brooders. You can safely put seventy-five to 100 chicks in each brooder and should have no trouble in raising 70 to 90 per cent, of them to maturity if you follow my instructions. For first feed I grind fine egg shells and feed these for first three days. You must see to it that they are never out of feed again as long as you own them. Here is one of the great secrets of success, for if your chicks always have free access to feed, they will never overeat and die of indigestion. As soon as you put them out give them fine grit and fine charcoal, also water that is lukewarm, and the eggshells, and as I have said before, the next day set dry mash before them, and give a feeding of baby chick feed night and morning. On the third day also set beef scraps before them and see that they are never without it. Begin feeding them process- ed oats on the seventh day. They will quickly take to it and eat off all the roots and sprouts, leaving nothing but thel hulls. Feed them all the processed oats they will eat from then on, once a day. Do not be afraid, for they cannot over- eat of it. From the seventh day on, your chicks must have always before them water, grit, charcoal and beef scraps; and do not forget the oats. I generally set a panful in the pen first thing in the morning and again at noon, dumping out the hulls every time. It is a pleasure to raise chickens this way as sickness and disease is scarcely known. After three weeks add a good qviality of wheat screen- ings to the rations, which must also be kept before them from then on as long as you own them. I know of nothing that can in any way compare with it for growing young chicks, and nothing so cheap as screenings and processed oats. If you cannot get good screenings use wheat. Good, clean, fresh water is very important — in fact, thou- sands of chickens are lost every year through dirty water and filthy drinking dishes, as disease starts in the drinking fountains in many cases. If your fountains are not kept clean, and if you are not particular and wash out your fountains every time you fill them, slime collects on the inside, and this is rank poison to the chickens. POULTRY RAISING 43 The best fountain you can get is the two-piece earthen fountain, which keeps the water cool and clean. If you can yard your little chicks on a stream of water, so much the better, as much labor is thus saved. Keep your brooder at 95 degrees first five days, then it should be lowered to 90 degrees, after two weeks to 85 de- grees, and after three weeks to 8Q degrees gradually reducing the temperature and harden them off, depending on the sea- son of the year and the weather. Here is where common sense and judgment counts. Give your chicks heat just as long as they need it if you wish to attain the most rapid growth, and rugged birds of extra good size, such birds, as a rule are never sick. 1 will give you the secret of success in raishig chicks and getting them beyond the danger period, eppecially Leg- horns, that are from twenty to forty days old. Nature's way is the secret. Ill front of my colony houses used for brooders, sa}"^ six feet I plow a good, big strip the entire length of them all. I do this the day the chickens begin to hatch, and sow this strip lightly with oats. By the time the chicks come out of their brooders the oats are niceh^ sprouted. I let the chicks out of the colony brooders the seventh day about 10 a. m., if the weather is nice. The next day I run the harrow over the ground and sow more oats. Every day after this I harrow this ground, sowing more oats every day. The re- sult — the chicks keep at work from morning until night and never get time to become sick. I consider this the only good or perfect way to raise chicks, at least about the only successful way. Pullets raised this way should lay at four or live months of age. As soon as the chicks reach a weight of two pounds each or near this weight, the cockerels should be marketed — ex- cept those you desire to retain for breeders — these should be separated from the pullets in order to mature them in best shape. Bear in mind the most critical time in a chick's life is between twenty and forty days old. During this period they must not be neglected, as they begin to grow rapidly at this age, and if stunted they never recover. You should sow more liberally of oats at this time, and do not neglect the harrowing ; it takes but a short time each dav and is very essential that it should be done with regu- larity. - - 44. BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF Continue to give your chicks all the processed oats they will take at this time. In order to economize and save labor, as soon as the chicks are large enough to leave the brooder you can move your pullets to the laying houses; that is, pullets that you want to keep for your own laying and breeding stock to take the place of your yearlings, A convenient way to replace a flock of old hens with pullets is to just put up a lean-to on the back end of your laying houses — say 6 by 6 feet square would answer every purpose. This can be put up with a single pitch roof and a wire netting front. Put some low roosts in this lean-to and shut in about sixty of your finest, largest pullets for three days, then you can let them run with the hens. Feed pullets in their own department in an open trough, continuing same course of feeding which has already been begun. When you sell your old hens just shut chicks out of their temporary department and the}' will go right in the main house and never have to be taught. When they start tn laying, they will keep right at it, and you will thus gain a full month's eggs, as changing after they have reached the laying age always stops them. This lean-to is also very handy for shutting up setting hens and various other purposes. To go back to the young chicks again, when your chicks are large enough to think of roosting, and need heat no more you should market the cockerels for squab broilers, if possi- !jle, at eight to ten weeks old, and remove your pullets to the laying houses. Your brooders are then ready for another batch of later chicks which can be allowed to grow up in these houses in the same manner as the first batch. You will find these houses very handy for wintering sur- plus cockerels and pullets in. It is alwa}rs nice to have some surplus birds on hand. I think I have made things plain, and if you will follow my instructions you will have no trouble in raising your chicks, providing your eggs are produced under my method of feeding, from healthy stock. ^^^'rW "1^1 -^ ^^ 4k lS ^H W ^Sf^^mi. W ^B W •/^W|^^ a^g B^^ }u^^ ^^S Wism m^ ---^3j| ^^"rft. ^^ ^ ^m ^ POULTRY RAISING 45. CHAPTER XVIII Hatching Baby Chicks For Market Hatching and selling baby, or day-old chicks, is the most profitable part of the poultry business, the one that can do much towards putting your plant on a paying basis if you have not been making as much profit as you expected. The day-old chick business requires more capital than any other branch of the business, and, just like any other business, the more capital the more profit, providing you have success ; and in order to be reasonably sure of success you- should put in Single Comb AVhite Leghorns, and house and care for them under my free range S3'-stem. By instal- ling first class incubators and using a liberal amount of ad- vertising you cannot fail to make money from the start. I marketed nearly $6000 worth of chicks last year, and nearly $4000 worth of eggs for hatching, from hardly 2000 laj^ers on my own plant and from 2000 layers on outside: plants, under my ownership and supervision, during March and April and a part of May. The prevailing price for baby chicks is SIO.OO per 100 from small plants and those not generally known in the poultry world, while many of the large plants get from S16.00 to $20. per 100 for Leghorn baby chicks. T get .$12. per 100 during March, April and up to May ISth, then $10.00 to July 1st, and $9. per 100 during July and August, but my stock is far above the average in quality and laying capacity, and I aim to have it better every year. To give you a little idea of what it costs to start in the baby chick business I would say for the first year equip yourself so as to be able to hatch 1000 chicks each week. This would mean that you would have to keep 500 laying hens, which would give you a surplus of eggs- You would want four 400-egg size incubators to hatch weekly. This would mean twelve 400-egg machines, which you should be able to buy for about $400.00 or a little more. Then comes your incubator house at a cost of $ZUU.UU to $40000 or more, depending on how large you build it. Do not make the mistake of building a small house for present needs Better build it three times larger than your present needs require, for once you get fairly started in the baby chick business, and find how profitable it is, you will want to increase it from year to year. ^ . o^ i, „i i Chicks can be safely shipped when 12 to 24 hours old, and will stand a three days Journey very well indeed. For 46 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF shipping them you will find nothing finer for packing them in than the corrugated paper chick boxes made in three sizes, 25, 50 and 100 chick capacity. If you keep pure bred Single Comb White Leghorns only, and keep them under my free range system, and incu- bate them in first class machines, you should hatch 280 to 320 chicks from every 400 eggs set. Great judgment must be used in packing these chicks for shipment. You will have to vary your ventilation in the boxes according to the weather. In a 100-chick box that has four compartments I put two holes in each compart- ment for March shipments. I use a wad cutter for this which cuts out one-half inch holes, and as the weather grows warmer I increase the number of holes. In hot weather 1 put in a large number of holes, and also put holes in the lid over each compartment. I also nail two wooden strips on the lid of each box, one inch thick, so when boxes are piled on top of one another there is an inch space between them. In this way the chicks cannot get over-heated. A box of 100 chicks throws oft a large amount of animal heat. CHAPTER XIX A Perfect Brooder ILLUSTRATION OF BROODER HOVER COMPLETE I will here describe the most perfect brooder I have ever used — one that is used exclusively on m}^ plant. If you are handy with tools you can make these brooders very easily and at a small expense for materials. For the body of these brooders use a| board 12 in. wide of hemlock or pine, saw two pieces three feet long and two pieces two feet eight inches long, nail these together at ends and you have a box just three POULTRY RAISING 47 feet square. On top of this box nail a sheet of galvanized iron 3 feet square and around the edge on top of the galvan- ized iron on each side nail flatwise a furring strip 1 by 2, and 3 feet long. Now, saw two more pieces two feet ten inches long to nail inside of these two pieces. First saw a >4 inch piece out of each end of these two pieces and nail between your three feet pieces with your J^ inch cut down, now you are ready for your floor which must be made out of tongued and grooved white pine boards good and dry so it will not shrink. _ In the! center of this floor saw a round hole so a two quart tin basin will just nail over and around it with bottom. ILLUSTRATION OF ONE-HALF OF BROODER — FROM THE CENTER TO THE BACK. SHOWING MANNER OF CONSTRUCTION, APPLICATION OF HEAT, ETC. Nail around the flanges at the bottom of the tin basin. Punch side full of holes with a punch to let fresh air and heat out among the chicks. On top of the basin as inverted, fasten the round block you sawed out of the floor. This must be done before basin is nailed on brooder. This block keeps your chicks from getting killed when the hover is raised or removed and let down again, also keeps the chicks from set- ting upon the heat drum. In body of brooder you must saw out an opening in center 9 by 10 inches- This opening is to put lamps in. Now make a slide for this opening and near the top make 3 holes about two inches apart 3-4 inch in size. Near the bottom also make two three-fourths inch holes. These holes are to provide air for the lamps. The holes must always be kept open or the lamps will not burn. You will now make your hover and this must be made of tongued and 48 BRTGGS' SYSTEM OF grooved white pine and should be inside twentv-four inches square. Around the edge put a strip of cheap cloth yet sub- stantial, SIX inches wide; slit this with a pair of shears. This strip of cloth should go twice around. Slit it so chicks can go out and under it at each corner. Put a leg six inches long of one-half inch stuff three inches wide where vou nail to brooder and bring it down to >^ inch wide where it sets on top of floor of brooder. This hover sets right over the tin ILLUSTRATION- (IF liROOUER COMPLETE EXCEPT HOVER SHOWING POSITION- OK VENTILATOR OR FRESH AIR OPE.NING ON THE LEFT SIDF A SIMILAR OPENIXG IS ALSO PROVIDED FOR ON THE RIGHT SIDE deji-ribi '• T' ''' "?''' ^''°°^"'-' '" '^' ^"™^'- of the house he 1 nnn T '\ '''"P'"''- ^^''' ^"'"^^ ^wo sides and as the lamp door is always toward you, T f^rst nail a ten inch the 'hnn r^ 't," 'f ^' °^ ^°"^<='" °PP°^^t^ ^'^^ the side of he house. This keeps the chicks from falling off; and on tWs We' "^■'" I'T ^ ''''' ^^P ' t^" '"<-^h board and set this loose ma pair of cleats at each end so it can be easilv removed as this is where the chicks are let out of the brooder down on the ground when five days old. To arrange for the chicksto get from the brooder to the ground, a distance of welve inches I first put some dirt in front of brooder giving •t a nice slope then T cover this with grass sods These sods keep the chicks from scratching the^dirt away and on" fixed m the spring they generally last an entire season I consider this brooder far superior to any other 'l have POULTRY RAISING v.) used as you cannot overheat the chicks and no danger of chilling so long as your lamps are burning, I never use a thermometer in these brooders any time of the year. I put from 75 to 100 chicks in each brooder using two brooders to A colony house and have never lost even five per cent, of chicks put in and often raise every chick. I find for lamps it is best to let a tin.smith make you a lamp out of galvanized iron that will hold about three quarts of oil. Make these lamps rather low and large around. Use a large sized zenith burner which is a burner needing no chimney. Run a low flame just so you can see it ovei- the cone. Use two lamps under each brooder and fdl them only once a ^A-eek, but trim every day if vour oil is poor. A TRIO OF PRIZE WINNI.NG S. C. WHITE LKGHOR.\S CHAPTER XX Raising Broilers — Bowel Trouble, Its Cause and Cure This chapter is written expressly for broiler men and those who keep their hens mainly on wet mashes. The failures in this branch led me to experimenting and I have carried on a series of careful experiments for several years until I have now fully satisfied myself that bowel trouble commonly known today as White Diarrhoea is a germ disease and the weaker your chick the quicker it will attack it Now the next thing was to find something that would kill the germ and at last I have found it in what is known as 50 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF POULTRY RAISING 51 Crel Oil. I spray my brooders thoroughly with it and cover lig-htly with wheat bran before putting chicks in, spraying once a week with it until the chicks are five weeks old and feed as follows : From the start put a small box of dry mash before them as described in my Poultry Secrets in the supple- ment to this book. I also give a light feeding of chick grain twice daily, keeping fresh water, grit and charcoal before them and in some cases I have raised every chick put out. All chicks intended for broilers hatched after May 1st should have sweet milk to drink for three or five weeks, as this will grow them very rapidly and put them right through the crit- ical period with scarcely any loss. I am now speaking more particularly of broiler raising. If you want healthy, rugged birds, free from disease, never feed them a wet mash. The cheapest way to feed and have healthy, rugged breeding birds free from disease at all times to raise broilers from is as I have told you, except in place of a light mash at 9 a. m., give your hens a good feeding of processed oats. If you produce eggs in this way, from yearling hens mated with fully developed cockerels, not less than ten months old, 5'-ou can raise practicalh'- every chick you hatch, even if a piped brooder-house is used providing you can keep the tem- perature anywhere from 80 to 95 degrees. This is a big variation ; but strong, healthy chicks will stand a lot and not get sick. Once they get sick this is the last of them, for they will die about as fast j'ou can hatch them. Most breeders, who are in the fancy stock business, use hens for hatching and brooding them. They get their neighbors to hatch and raise them, for they cannot hatch! them and raise them with incubators and brooders, simply because their brooders are fed ort wet mashes, so as to get to big price, are usually hatched by old hens, and raised by them on free-range, which will pull them through if anything wilL Under my system of feeding, eggs laid in January will run 90 per cent, fertile, and I have hatched as high as 93 3-4 per cent, of fertile eggs. You can seei at a glance why so many who have tried the broiler business as a business have failed. I defy any one to find a profitable broiler plant, but I am satisfied this branch can be made pay under my .system of feeding and in no other way- , , • . i j I want to 'say to broiler men, who have piped brooder houses, give them one more trial with eggs produced under my system of feeding. 52 BRIGG'S SYSTEM OF From January until Jime you can hatch and raise broil- .ers at a splendid profit under this system, for you can grow 3'our later hatches up and make roasters of them at a grand profit. Under my system of feeding' your birds will grow very rapidly and develop fully one-third quicker than if fed the old way, stuffed with wet mashes. If fed the old way you will lose a large number with colds and roup, and have but few well chickens to sell. Just a word about growing roasters. Either good wheat screenings or wheat of some description must be kept before them all the time ; also first-class beef scrap, grit, charcoal, and good fresh water and never let them izet out of dry mash. They should have one good feeding of processed oats about 9 a. m. — all they will eat. At night give all the cracked corn they will eat and you will grow roasters that will be a credit to you, and sickness among them will scarcely be known, and your profit will correspondingly surprise you. However, you will find it to your advantage to market chicks as broilers as long as they bring 25 cents a pound and more. , A pan of corn meal, set where the chicks can eat all they want of it, a week or two before marketing them will fatten them nicely. Do not wet it, but let them eat it dry. Under these conditions onlv can broilers be made to pay a profit. You can raise them, well into the summer on the free-range system of cultivating the ground. Just as soon as you fail to raise 80 per cent, of your hatch you Wad better stop and sell your eggs. For late chicks gi^'e " Little Red Hen Poultry Tonic " in their drinking water. This will keep them in the pink of condition and should always be used when chicks do not do well. CHAPTER XXI Colds and Roup Of all the diseases that poultrymen have to contend with there is none so prevalent as colds and roup and they are therefore the most dreaded. Owing to the very sudden changes of weather in nearly all parts of our country colds and roup seem to grow more prevalent each season. The most dangerous form of roup is canker accompanied with swelled eyes which fill with a white cheesy substance mean- ing a blind eye in nearly every case. This particular disease POULTRY RAISING 53 is very contagious therefore a chicken that has a sore eye should be removed at once from the flock and in many cases it is the wise thing to kill and bury or burn the first case of this kind. The treatment should begin at the time they are hatched for this is a germ disease. Spray your brooders with Crel Oil before you put hatch in and spray once or twice a week thereafter, as long as chicks are in brooder. Their quarters after this should be sprayed twice a month until fully grown and once a month when grown. All chicks hatched in March and April should never get a cold or trace of roup treated this way unless you are breeding from old stock that have had it; or unless your chicks are in very damp quarters or roost in drafts. This Crel Oil also kills all lice and mites. Colds and roup often get a start from mites during hot weather of summer. Mites multiply verj' fast in hot weather and they so weaken the chick that in their weakened condition they take cold very easily. If roup gets a good start spra} e^ery night with Crel Oil and put Yz tea- sooonful of this to 1 gallon in their drinking water. This will cure the worst cases in a short time. Many a plant has been put out of business by roup, so let me warn you to watch your birds closely and do not let it get a start. Late hatched chicks are very susceptible to this disease and, there- fore, require close watching. CHAPTER XXII Caring for a Plant where Wheat or Screenings Cannot be Bought I want to lay down here a system of feeding for those who live in sections of the country where wheat screenings cannot be bought and where wheat is so high it cannot be used at a profit and where oats are so scarce and high in price that they cannot be used. In places of this kind I ad- vise hopper feeding of dry mash entirely. This should be made up of the various ground grains that you can get the cheapest, using 1-4 to 1-3 wheat bran if it can be had. You will have to use your own judgment as a rule in the makinsr of this mash. I would not hopper feed any kind of whole grain but feed this rather in the litter mornings. Barley or buck-wheat or Kaffir corn, whichever is cheapest, is good. At night feed com ; also if possible keep beef scraps before them at all times You are bound to get a big egg yield under such a system of feeding, especially if you can process some 54 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF kind of grain, if not oats, try barley or buckwheat or Kafifir corn. If you can get a grain to process, feed this processed grain once a day with a little salt on and if you have a plenty of it feed: it twice daily. Remember the oats is the best of all grains if you can get it. This system is especially adapted for those who live in some parts of California as well as Flor- ida and other remote Southern points. CHAPTER XXIII When and How to Start in the Poultry Business Now comes the important consideration, when to start, and how. In either case you should start in the fall, especial- ly if you wish to start on a large scale, for your buildings should be put up in the fall even if you start by buying eggs and plan to raise your own breeders. This is by far the cheapest way to start if you do not have much capital. Get your incubator house ready in the fall, providing you have not a house cellar, which will answer the purpose temporarily. You can arrange for your brooders in the spring, but cannot start so early as where you have a brooder-house as out of door brooders will be necessary in this case, which cost more. Regular out-door brooders can be used out of doors very early in the spring any time after March 1st, as a rule. Pullets hatched the middle of March should lay in Aug. under my system of feeding, and keep right at it from then on. All the eggs desired can be purchased from reliable! part- ies of either Single-Comb White Leghorns or White Wyan- dottes, produced under my system of feeding at $5. or $6. per one hundred in any quantity On short notice — eggs that will run 90 per cent fertile right in January. For those who are well fixed, financially, I advise starting in the fall. To such I advise putting up the laying-houses during July and August buying pullets as early as possible during the fall. October and November are usually the two best months as they can be bought cheaper than at any other time of the year. You should have no trouble to buy all the pullets and yearling hens you want, particularly .Single-Comb White Leghorns during these two months at $1. to $1.50 each. This is a very satisfactory way to start, but not so cheap as buy- ing the eggs and raising your own stock. Avoid buying eggs of a breeder who feeds mash if you wish to get good "hatches and produce chicks that will live, because when an entirely inexperienced man tries to raise them they must be from hardy stock. POULTRY RAISING 55 You do not have to wait many months for profit when you buy eggs to start with, as you can market your cockerels for broilers at a profit. In three months from the time you set your machines you can count on quite an income, so all things considered, with the experience you get, I advise start- ing in the spring by buving your eggs and raising your own breeders. Your chicks can be raised very cheaply under my new 5(; BklGG'S SYSTEM OF system, giving them all the processed oats they will eat twice a day, in connection with a good chick food kept before them all the time, as well as grit, charcoal, and beef scraps. Your brooders should be cleaned out at least once a week which I find answers every purpose. Also keep your brooder part of the house, where chicks are fed, covered with cut clover, the}' eat much of this, and it is very beneficial to them. CHAPTER XXIV A Leghorn Plant for Profit I will tell you here what a Combination Leghorn Plant can be made to do, and how to run such a plant for the great- est possible profit. First of all your great aim must be the production of eggs and for at least six months in the year you must feed to pro- duce not only eggs, that will hatch but produce eggs that will batch chickens that will live. If you feed properly and ad- vertise eggs for hatching, actually producing fertile eggs that will hatch strong, healthy chicks, that will live if given half a chance, offering to replace all clear eggs free if returned, ex- press prepaid, I am positive a man with three thousand layers can clear from $8,000 to $10,000 a year, providing he feeds them on my free range system. You should sell vour eggs during the hatching season for $6.00 per 100, or $50. per 1000. Possibly you could make more money by selling them for $5. per 100 in any quantity making no reduction for quantity. $5. per 100 is the popular price for good hatching eggs in this country. There is a grand profit in it at this price when you produce them in such large numbers at so small a cost. You must not feed a bit of wet mash. I will lay down here the ideal way to feed for fertile eggs at a small cost either a yarded or free-range plant for Leghorns only. Beginning in December, the first thing in the morning as soon as it is light, give your hens a light feeding of buck- wheat or barley in the litter; about I3/2 quarts for 60 or 75 is plenty. Give warm water to drink as early as convenient, and at 9 a. m. give each flock all the processed oats they will eat. At 1 p. m., give your flock more water, or put in warm water with what they have. About 3 p. m- give another .feeding of processed oats, all they will eat. Remember, these only cost 10 to 15c a bushel. Before dark give not over 1 to IjX quarts of cracked f^OtjLTkV RAISiMG 5? corn to a flock, and gather your eggs. If it is very cold weather, you will also have to gather vour eggs on your 1 o'clock trip. These birds must have always before them grit, oyster shells, and charcoal. Also a hopper of beef scraps and one of wheat screenings or wheat, and one of dry mash. Just a word about mating up your breeders to produce chickens that should be healthy. Mate all your yearling hens with cockerels not less than ten months old. Put these birds on free-range system, and feed as I have heretofore directed. Pullets hatched in February and March, mated to good vigorous yearling cocks, will also produce chickens that are very hardy and you should have no trouble in raising 90 to 95 per cent of these chicks. Under no circumstances use anything but a Single-Comb White Leghorn for the greatest profit, because they lay the largest egg; and are by far the most popular of the Leg- horn family. To dispose of your breeders to the best advantage during- August and September, you should make a great clearance sale at $1 each. You will have no trouble in disposing of all surplus stock at this price, and you will find this far prefer- able to putting them in the market. Care for your plant during the summer as I have in- structed for summer care and feeding in another chapter. I advise four cocks or cockerels for every sixty to sev- enty-five layers. These birds should be so mated that there will be no fighting among them, and no " boss," as a rule. After the breeding season is over, say July, you should remove nearly all your male birds and make one flock of them except a few pens, which it would be well to keep mated the season through, so you can always fill a stray order for hatching eggs- Your cockerels should also be separated from the pullets and placed in one large flock, or several flocks of one hundred or so in a flock. In this way the male birds run together very peaceably and rarely ever fight, and you rarely ever see a " boss " among them. In mating these up, just take out of the bunch as many as you want for a flock of females, all at once, and let them go. You will then have no fighting, and very seldom even a " boss." This is the only way to mate up your birds for the best possible results. rs8 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF Never keep a brass}' male bird. Have nothing but pure white birds on your place, as .you will find your profits can be greatly increased by gradually breeding into fancy birds. Show a few at your fall fairs or local shows. Get a Standard and study it. By careful selection you can soon have a plant of very fine birds. Advertise your stock in one or more of the leading poul- try journals and keep your advertisement regularly before the public. Do not tr)r to show at the big shows, such as Madison \ PAIi; IIK I'RIZl! WIXNING SII.VBK l.ACKI) \V VAiNDOTTS Square Garden, or Boston at first, for it takes years to win at such shows as these. If the houses I have given you the plans for in this book are not warm enough for your location, 3'ou can build them six feet at the eaves instead of four by using a twelve-foot board sawed in half. Put a loft-floor in at the eaves and fill ihe top with straw. Do not put on a tight loft-floor; a floor of poles would work all right. You should also line the sides in the same way, and you will have a very warm house, where you could get eggs in any kind of weather. POULTRY RAISING 39 I want to say right here that Leghorn plants are the only ones up to the present time that have made money in a market way. Eggs for market, at market prices, have made many of them rich. All who have tried the larger breeds, have failed at it in a market way, so they have all had to go into the fancy, or give it up entirel}'. CHAPTER XXV A White Wyandotte Plant for Profit I have bred White Wyandottes all my life, or up to the Fall of 1910, when I sold my entire flock, that is for the past eighteen years and exhibited them ever}- year. I have seen them lead all the large breeds in popularity, and the demand for them increases yearly. I know of no varietA- among the large fowls that it is such hard work to get good fertile eggs from that will hatch strong chicks, that are bound to live, as it is from the \\'hite \\'yandotte that have been bred for exhibition purposes in yarded plants. In breeding exhibition stock everj' trace of creaminess or brassiness had to be bred out of them, and their vigor or vitality has gone with it to a large extent. Inbreeding has done much to injure the vitality of this breed. My aim here is to tell }"ou how to feed and care for \\'hite Wyandottes so you can get them hardy and full of vigor without breeding out their fine qualities — and this can be done by feeding alone. I have experimented very carefully along this line and I find all large breeds should be fed quite different from the small breds. First of all they should never eat com in any form — that is, the breeding stock. If any corn is fed it must be in very limited quantities. I find they will stand the hopper feeding and give grand results. In fact, this is the only natural way of feeding any fowl, and the only safe way of feeding. First of all provide a hopper of beef scrap, dry mash and wheat screenings; also grit, oyster shells, and charcoal. The first thing in the morning give a light feeding of barley or buckwheat in litter to induce all the exercise you can- At 9 a. m. give all the processed oats they will eat. eo BklGG'S SYSTEM OF At 3 p. m. all the processed oats they will eat again. At 4 p. m. or later, according to the time of year, another feeding of oats, unprocessed. This should be fed to all large breeds in place of cracked corn. Always use clipped oats, and feed in the litter, and you will not only get an abundance of eggs, but eggs that will hatch strong healthy chicks that will live. Such eggs will run from 80 to 90 per cent, fertile right in the winter months. I am not guessing at this, for I . am doing it right in February. Do not be afraid of the processed oats, but give all they will possibly eat for they are very light and it is impossible to over-feed on them. There is nothing I have ever tried that will make hens lay equal to them, and nothing so cheap. It costs only about half to feed this way- You can always sell any amount of eggs for hatching at $5 per one hundred from Wyandottes. I am positive you could sell all a three thousand laying plant can produce for hatching by a liberal amount of adver- tising along the same lines as I told you how to advertise Leghorn eggs. You can sell a large quantity of breeders for good prices, if you start with fairly good stock and exhibit at the small shows on the start. One thing you have to contend with on a Wyandotte plant, that you do not have to contend with on a Leghorn plant, that is setter,s. This means quite some work, but you will not have nearly the amount of setters on a plant fed as I have directed. To properly break up a setter, they should not be allow- ed to remain on the nest the first night, and as a rule three days will break them up. Or, if you want to break a setter up in twenty-four hours, just put her with a bunch of sur- plus cockerels, where a roost is handy and your hen will not think of setting. There is no breed at the present time more handsome than the White Wyandotte, when bred for show purposes, and no fowl that makes so fine a broiler and roaster when they are grown up healthy and rugged, that is, nature's way, and this can be done easily on the feeding I have outlined for my free-range system. You can get eggs right in January that will run from 80 to 90 per cent, fertile and give you grand hatches of strong, rugged chicks that can be easily raised in the winter — and you will have no trouble at all to POULTRY RAISING 61 dispose of hundreds of laying pullets during September, October and November at $2 each. There is a grand profit raismg at this price, when you can raise 90 per cent, and more of all the chicks you hatch, and raise them largely on a feed that costs you only 10 to 15 cents a bushel. You can easily see what a profit you can make by running a large plant of White Wyandottes my way. TYPICAL HEADS OF AfALE AND FEMALE WHITE WYANDOTTES Smallness of your feed bills will surprise you. I am positive $8,000 a year can be easily made from a plant of three thousand White Wyandotte layers, and even more when you work into high-class show birds and get $3 to $5 a setting for many of your eggs. Sell high-class birds from $10 each up. to as high as $100 It can be done by pluck and perseverance. (VJ BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF A White Wyandotte plant of three thousand layers will turn in a i^rcntcr profit than the same number oi any other breed fed and run my way, which is nature's way, providing; it is handled by a White Wyandotte fancier who thoi-oughly kncnvs the value of his birds. The system that has been tiescribed above for the care and feedinj;' of White Wyaiulottcs will be found to be corre- spondingly practicable for other larpe breeds of fowls, and should be followed witli the same accuracy. CHAPTER XXVI A Combination Plant for Profit — Fruit, Poultry and Bees I feel that I must write a chapter on a combined plant for the benefit of those who want to go in either on a small or large scale, conibiuiiio- poultry, fruit and bees There is no enmbination that T K'now of, that is more profitable, and at the same time will give so much pleasure in various ways than this. First of all. e\erv poultry plant should be well set out to fruit. This is one (if the very first things you should do to pnnide \ouv poultry with shade and n peach tree is one of the best fruit trees for poultrymen, as it gives the quickest shade and the fruit always finds read)- sale at good prices. Then the plum and the apple, cherry, pears, and grapes come next in value. You are bound to get an immense crop of fruit where you cultivate your ground, and use your poultry manure around your trees. You should plant liberally of all kinds of fruit, and you will find life worth the living. You want bees to fertilize your blossoms, so you will get large crops of fruit, and bees for the honey are \'cry profitable and aflford a great amount of pleasure. They often turn in a greater amount of profit, time and capital taken into consid- eration, than auA'thing T know of. T have cleared as high as $25 from a single hive in a season with but little labor. You need to give them no attention to sju-ak of from October 1 to May 1. For only two months. May and June, do they need any great amount of attention. I advise every one who keeps poultry to have a combined plant — poultry, fruit and bees. There will be years when your profit from fruit alone will not only give you a good living, but will give you a good, fat bank account as well as furnishing the family what fruit is needed. Think of eating peaches for instance from the 1st POULTRY RAISING 63 of July until November, it makes ones mouth water. This can be done, if you will plant several kinds from the earliest to the latest. You can also have all kinds of apples, plums, cherries, and other fruit in the same way, grown at no ex- pense, on your poultry farm and one should enjoy life under such circumstances CHAPTER XXVII Loss of Breeders during Heavy Laying Season I want to devote a little time to the discussion under this head of the matter of heavy loss of hens during the heavy laying season, during March, April and May principally. This applies largely to Leghorns as they are the phenomenal layers during these three months and the loss of birds from heavy laying is usually very heavy. The Rhode Island Experiment Station lost nearly 34% of their Leghorns in one year. This information will surprise and startle many, but all poultry- men who keep stock in large numbers know the loss is very heavy. This great loss is caused by such heavy laying" as to weaken the bird. They droop two or three days and die. I have been making a study of this trouble in order to find out how to avoid the loss and from careful experimenting I am now satisfied beyond a doubt that this trouble primarily is a germ disease which gets a stronger hold on a hen when she is weakened from heavy laying and as a result she dies in two or three days. I have also found that nearly all the loss of poultry is caused by germ disease, therefore the only cure is to destroy these germs. For this I have found nothing equal to Crel Oil. The roosts and dropping boards if used should be sprayed with this every week, sure from January 1st on for six months or until the heavy laying season is over. Spray just before hens go to roost. If you follow this up closely you will not only get manv more eggs but your loss in hens will be nothing to speak of. You will get $100 in return for every $25 spent in Crel Oil. It is also a sure cure for gapes in young chickens. You should always have a supply on hand. . „ , I have also found " Little Red Hen Poultry Tonic of great value during this trying time. It will keep the layers in perfect condition. When it is used in drinking water in connection with Crel Oil your loss during the Sprmg months should not be over three per cent. 64 BRIGG'S SYSTEM OF CHAPTER XXVIII Molting Molting- is an important consideration especially on a yarded plant, but on a free-range plant I believe in keeping them laying right through the molt. As a rule, when a hen practically has an entire new coat she will in most cases stop laying and take rest. A hen must have a rest and time to build up. On a free-range plant, if you continue your harrow- ing and sowing oats you can keep your birds laying pretty well all through without reducing their vitality. During Oc- tober and November, thcv Avill drop off and have the rest; then you should have your pullets under full head if you are in the market egg business. P.nt if you depend on selling eggs for hatching, then T advise you to let your hens have a rest during November and December, and get them under full headway again in January, you will then be able to produce eggs that will hatch, and « ith other things favor- able, your eggs should run 90 to 95 per cent, fertile from Jan- uary 1 on, and hatch equal to ecgs laid in March and April, providing your hens are fed under my system. In caring for a yarded plant, }'ou will find your hens will slack off laying during July and August, and during Septem- ber, October and November you will get but few eggs from the large breeds, as a rule. All things considered, and in or- der to get your stock in the best possible condition for winter eggs, I advise keeping your hens on nothing but processed oats and beef scraps during this period, for this will put them through the earliest molt of anything I have ever tried. The oats should contain sprouts one-half inch long. You will al- so be surprised at the amount of eggs vou will get even dur- ing this period. December 1st put before them their hoppers of wheat screenings or cheap wheat and to every pail of processed oats add one teaspoonful of cayenne pepper and one of salt, which will make your hens very thirsty, and the more water they drink the more eggs they will lay. Your hens will respond to this treatment and surprise you on eggs and should lay as well during January as any month in the year. Use the cay- enne pepper during December, January and February only. POULTRY RAISING 65 CHAPTER XXIX Feeding and Selecting of Large Breeds Important Those who have a love for certain large breeds and wish to keep them, even if their profits are not so large, I desire now to particularly address. Many of those who have read the preceding pages of this book may get the impression there is no profit in any other breeds except the ones I have strongly advised. I do not want any one to think this, for any one with push and advertising can boom any breed to a certain extent, but this takes money. I will name some of the most important large breeds for which there is a good demand and money in. Barred and White Plvmouth Rocks, Buflf Orpingtons, and White Orpingtons, Columbian Wyandottes, and the very popular and valuable Rhode Island Reds, the great winter layers, and for broilers, their eggs also have a great sale. Two of the handsomest of the lars^e breeds, which are now much neglected, are the Buff Wyandottes and Buff Plymouth Rocks. They are srreat lavers, and it remains for some good fancier to again brine them to the front. There is money in any of the breeds I have named, as well as others. All large breeds need free-ransre to do their best, as I find they do not stand confinement nearly as well as the Leghorns. For those favorably located on farms, and who can raise croos, the ideal vvav of feeding- all larsre breeds durine winter for the most egsrs, and for varded plants the vear round, i^ as follows: By introduction. T mav say, however, that this same system can be applied to I-eghorns with wonderful results. It will produce the most fertile eggs of anv system in existence, no matter what anyone tells you. Now, in- stead of hopper feeding, you must raise a piece of wheat, or barley and oats, and when ripe cut it and bind it into sheaves and put it in your barn. Do not thresh it. In November beiarin to give it to vour hens in the sheaf and let them thresh it. Give a sheaf the first thina: in the morning, and at nine or ten a. m. give a feeding of pro- cessed oats. If they need more grain, depending on the size of vour flock, you can give another small sheaf at noon, or eive" a lisht feeding of cracked corn in the straw, and at 3:30 to 4 p. m. give another feedine of processed oats, and you will never fail to (ret an abundance of egg.s :_ at the same time your birds will be in the pink of condition, and the eggs produced under these conditions will not only give you wonderful hatches! of chicks, but chicks that will live and grow with half a chance. Always keep dry mash before them made according to my formula; also a hopper of beef scraps. 66 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF cm m ca w O h ■0-2 ■rOn Si.® 9 eja " a-" a o ^Cj_ Rftil PRtzE-- BOTTOM igoi lAbCrfL) 'y, •^M^^ A HIGH CLASS S. C. WHITE LEGHORN COCK THAT WON AT SEVERAL OF THE LARGEST SHOWS Winter and the fertility of the eggs has run exceptionally high and given wonderful hatches. To fiocks of 60 to 7b birds I give in the morning a good sized .sheaf of oats ; at noon' a good-sized sheaf of wheat, and at night a feedmg ot 82 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF corn, which may be fed on the ear, giving it to them in the af- ternoons. Mornings I give a good feeding of processed oats, all they will eat with special Egg Maker fed according to directions. I keep before them all the time my dry mash for producing eggs, as found in this book, I also keep before them grit, charcoal and oyster shells, also beef scraps. This method is only available on farms, but it is the cheapest method known and the greatest egg producer, nearest to nature of any system in the world. Secret of Getting Eggs Every Month in the Year. At no time in the whole year are eggs so scarce as during October, November and December, and for profit in market eggs you will never find a time when fresh eggs are sought after more than at this time. Buyers are always ready to give a premium on fresh eggs at this time of year. v Now, the great question is how to get a large egg yield these three months. I want to say right here, a large egg yield at this time is hard to get, for all old hens are in molt- ing and can be depended on for but a few eggs. A hen can be kept laying until she drops nearly all her feathers, and then when she gets her new coat nearly all on, she is Used up and is bound to take a two month's rest. So the only way to keep the egg yield up at this time is with February and March pullets grown toi full maturity before they are allowed to lay, for if they lay too young their eggs are very small and immarketable. When your pullets are fully matured and ready to lay, or better just started, then move them to their la^^ng houses which may stop their laying for a short time ; if so it will be much better for when they start again their eggs will be much larger and can be marketed for reg- ular sized eggs. Now you may wonder why pullets will not lay as well at this time as in Spring, I will tell you why. A chicken is like a tree, they require the Spring sun to do their best. A tree drops its leaves from October on, whether we have any frost or not and lies dormant until the sun begins to travel North again and puts life in it. A hen in her natural state is just the same and if we expect eggs in abundance during these three months it requires the very best of care and feed and good judgment. Sour or lopper milk is a' great help at this time. Cultivate j'^our ground all good days and sow plen- ty of grain and on bad days give grain in the sheaf; do everything possible to keep them busy, and your egg yield will repay you for your trouble. POULTRY RAISING 83 Secret of Ciiring White Diarrhoea. Of all the diseases that ever struck little chicks, White Diarrhoea is the worst and has probably killed more little chicks than all the other diseases put together. It will take whole broods off in a few days, and the further the season A BARRED PLYMOUTH BOOK MALE SHOWING FLNE SHAPE AND BARMXG advances the more fatal it gets. I have known plants that had none of it in their early hatches, and m their late hatches whole broods would go with it After years of care ul exper imenting, I am satisfied it is a germ disease and the treatment 84 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF should be started with the old stock. I find chicks bred from old breeders on free cultivated range, as my book describes, rarely ever have any of this bowel trouble. Now as a posi- tive preventive, spray your houses once every two weeks with Crel Oil. Spray your brooders before you put your chicks in and after you spray it cover bottom with quarter inch of wheat bran and put your chicks right in and feed as I laid down in the Secret of Feeding Late Hatched Chicks, by giving sweet milk to drink, and I am sure you will see no trace of this trouble. In case you see any cases spray your brooder once a week with Crel Oil and put one-third of a teaspoonful of Humphrey's Specific J. K. to a quart of water; this J- K. can be bought at any drug store at 50c a bottle. Follow these directions closely and I am sure you will have no further trouble with this disease. Spray your roosts once a month sure all summer with this for both old and young stock. Secret of Curing Gapes. Gapes carries laway thousands of chicks every year, specially among the farmers and to catch each chick and take the worms out is a tedious undertaking and then you injure many chicks besides the large number you kill and the large number you let die through neglect in taking them in time. If you will spray your coops with Crel Oil before put- ting your chicks in and when a week old, if they show any trace of it, spray coops again at night just before they go to roost ; this will prevent it, but if anv show gapes after this just take them all and put them in a box that has just had the bottom spraved with it, cover with an old bag and all the worms in windpipe will quicklv be killed. Every one that has followed my directions has cured their chicks and not lost one. Secret Formula for Making the Cheapest and Best Lice Powder Known. The lice powder T am going to tell you how to make may be made at 8 to 9 cents a pound, and is far superior to the powders sold on the market at 25 cents per pound, and will not onl}'- kill all the lice it comes in contact with, but will remain on the hen for two or three davs. Buy at vour drug store one pound of Persian Insect Powder and from your feed store three pounds of Red Dog Flour, usually one and one-half cents a pound, or the best white middlings; mix this thoroughly and you have four pounds of the best insect powder known. The Persian Insect Powder usually costs thirty cents a pound. Poultry raising 85 Secret of Making the Best Liquid Lice Killer. This lice killer I consider far superior to any now sold on the market at any price and can be bought at almost any drug store, at a cost of about 50 cents per gallon. Take a gallon can to your druggist and have him put in it half crude carbolic acid and half crude oil ; shake this up well and you have one of the best lice paints that can be made. Just spray your houses once a month with this and you will never be troubled with lice. A BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCK HEN REMESEXTIXG A F1.\E TYPE OF THIS POPULAR BREED 86 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF Secret of Raising Turkeys. This secret will be more than valuable to those who try- to raise a large number of turkeys yearly, and have met with severe losses, for it is now generally conceded that tur- keys are the hardest to raise of any of the feathered tribe. They may look fine today and be dead tomorrow. I have been carefully experimenting to perfect a system with which I could raise nearly every turkey hatched. When I take the young ones from the nest I first put them in a small box that has been sprayed with Crel Oil. I then put a loose bag over them and leave them 5 minutes so they will breathe this thoroughly to kill all germs. This should be done once a week for 5 weeks as I find the greatest loss comes from a germ disease and when you kill the germ you can raise turkeys and in no other way. Turkeys two years old make the best breeders as their young are much stronger. I shut the old turkey in a coop of good size for first two weeks with chicks and feed them principally on a Special Patent Chick grain and cracked corn cooked. A curd made from loppered milk is also very good. I give them sweet milk to drink. A fountain of milk and one of water. They have this every morning and are fed lightly three times daily. After two weeks old I put three drops of Spirits of Camphor to a quart of water and if at any time I see any of them droop I increase the camphor to five drops to a quart of water. This braces them right up and carries them safely through the critical period. It is a pleasure to see them grow. The sweet milk just pushes them right through. After five weeks of age they can be put on good wheat screenings and cracked corn dry and will thrive fine if given plenty of range. A cow pasture makes an ideal range for turkeys. In the early fall put them on whole corn and good wheat. You will find more profit in a flock of turkeys than anything you raise on your farm. Just try this method and I am sure you will have no further trouble in raising turkeys. Briggs' Secret Dry Mash for Baby Chicks. The dry mash I am going to tell you how to make, has proven for me to be the greatest dry mash for growing chicks from shell to maturity of any mixture I have ever been able to secure and I consider it the nearest perfect of any mash ever compounded. Take by weight 100 lbs. wheat bran, 100 lbs. middlings, 100 lbs. corn meal, 100 lbs. gluten meal, mix thoroughly and keep before them at all time. Also keep before them grit and beef scraps. POULTRY RAISING 81 Briggs' Secret Dry Mash for Laying Fowls. Take equal parts by weight of wheat bran, white mid- dlings, corn meal, gluten meal and ground oats; mix thor- oughly and keep before them in hoppers. Feed some grain by hand and the results will surprise you. Secret Egg Preserving Formula. Purchase from your druggist as much .Silicate of Soda as you ma)' wish. IMix it with cold water in the proportion of six parts of water to one of Silicate of Soda. Use newly laid eggs not more than one week old. Dip each egg separately in the solution, and place it in a vessel large part down ; then pour over the eggs enough of the solution to entirely im- 4. FAMOUS PEN OF PRIZE WINNING S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS 88 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF merse them. Do not fail to dip each egg separately before placing in the vessel, and hold the egg in your hand for two or three seconds after you have dipped it, that the coating may set, and place in the vessel as directed. Cover the ves- sel up and the next day or the next week, as the case may be, when you wish to add more eggs, repeat the operation of dip- ping, set the eggs in on top of those already in the vessel ^l■. cover again with the solution. You will find the air has been entirely excluded from the shell, and the eggs have been hermeticall}' sealed and will stay fresh indefinitely if you have properly handled them. Secret of Breeding for Layers. After two years careful experimenting on my new plant and from careful observation from other plants, I have come to the conclusion that it does not pay to trap nest to produce a strain of prolific layers, in fact, every large plant that has tried it as a rule has given it up or has been compelled to sell out in 2 or 3 years. Exceptions to this rule are very scarce. The amount of labor that it requires to run a plant with trap nests will quickly put it out of business. The greatest suc- cess today comes from the system where but little labor is required and my system stands alone in this respect. You may not know that the Maine Experiment Station made a careful test for ten years with trap nests using all the differ- ent nests known, for money was no object and after breed- ing from their greatest layers for ten years by the use of the trap nest their average per hen was over 30' eggs less per hen than when they started. This I am sure is a great surprise, to the poultry world and proves beyond a doubt that it does not pay to trap nest birds. To breed up a strain of heavy layers without extra labor, take each year about half your pullets, those that mature the quickest and start to lay ahead of the rest, and flock them by themselves and band them so they will be known from the others, for they are bound to make your best layers. Mate these with your earliest ma- turing cockerels and continue to do this year after year, using the selected pullets two years for breeders. In this way you not only get a phenominal flock of layers but your birds will increase in size and vigor and sickness will rarely be known among then. Slow maturing birds are much more subject to disease, and never prove great layers while the quick ma- turing kind do. You will find this system of picking out the layers far ahead of any system now in use and the only sys- tem in my estimation that will ever prove a success. POULTRY RAISING 89 Secret of Telling the Laying Hen. This secret is often valuable during the early fall when hens are slacking off fast on egg yield, and you might wish to market a part of the flock that are through laying or might want to kill a pair for dinner and certainly would not want to kill the layers. You may always know that as a rule a hen with a bright red comb is a laying hen so do not kill these kind. Rather kill the lazy looking hens, those with pale combs. After catching them up notice if you can lay three fingers between the pelvic bones which are just below the vent. In old hens you can lay 3 fingers between these bones if they are laying. Leghorns often lay when only two fingers can be laid between the bones. The egg passes be- tween these bones in being deposited. If the bones are close together and stiflE you may safely conclude that the hen is not laying and will not lay for several weeks as a rule. I understand this is the same system as is used by several others although I have never seen their system. Secret of Fattening Poultry. If for broilers take chicks that are about 1 1-2 lbs. each in weight, and put them in flocks of about fifty. If they have had free range so much the better. If they have a good large house^hey will need no yard. One of my 10 by 20 houses is just right for 50 to 75 chicks. I advise feeding them two weeks before killing. Mix up dry six parts corn meal, two parts middlings, one part gluten meal, one part linseed meal, and one and one-half parts beef scraps and add 5 per cent, grit ; mix thoroughly dr)' and before feeding mix with milk either sweet or sour or with water and give them all they will eat twice daily. Ke'Cp before them all the time, six parts corn meal and two parts beef scraps mixed dry, keep this in a box so they can have free access to it at all times and in two weeks they should be as fat as squabs and weighl two lbs. and over each. I ' Secret of Breaking Up Broody Hens Quickly. The great secret of breaking up broody hens quickly is to shut up a number together, a dozen or more. Put them in a coop right on the ground with a wire netting front and they will not think of setting, where one hen is alone in such a coop a persistent setter will scratch a nest at one end and go to setting. If you take every setter off the nest the very night they start to set you can as a rule break them up in three days. Always keep water before them but give but 90 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF little feed while they are shut up. In case you shut up your broody hens only once a week and want to break them up quickly put theni in a small pen. Arrange one or two roosts depending upon how many hens you have shut up and put SILVER DUCK WING LEGHORN FIRST MADISON SQUARE with them a good vigorous cockerel. If you have a male bird, sickly or not doing well put him in this same pen and you will be surprised to see how quickly he will get well and your setting hens will all be on the perches. This soon will break up the most persistent setters in three or four days. POULTRY RAISING 91 Secret of Molting Fowls Early. It is a question yet unsolved whether it pays to have hens molt early or keep them laying as long as possible and let them molt rather late. I am satisfied after experimenting carefully along these lines that it pays to keep the hens lay- ing just as long as possible and do their molting during Oc- tober and November, so as to get them laying again in De- cember or January. A good hen will lay all through the molt but when she is finishing her coat she will stop in near- ly every case and have a rest. Nothing will molt them so fast as processed oats and beef scraps. To have them molt in June and July just take away all grain and give all pro- cessed oats keeping beef scraps before them all the time and they will surprise you in the short time they will be in getting a new coat of feathers. Try this for birds you wish to exhibit at Fall shows. A bird in new plumage always does the winning. Secret of Preparing White Birds for Exhibition. To prepare white birds for exhibition and have them white as snow with that glossy finish, is an art that few pos- sess. In our large shows where judges have gone color crazy it is no longer an easy matter to win a prize. In washing white birds I use four tubs of water. In first tub of warm water I shave half a cake of Ivory soap and make a good suds, then I use half a cake of soap, a good hand brush and I soak the bird thoroughly and rub plenty of soap into the feathers and give her a thorough scrubbing; then put her in next tub of clean warm water and wash her thoroughly, get- ting all soap out of the feathers, then I put her in the third tub of warm water. In this tub of water I put a small amount of bluing and wash all traces of soap out of her; she then goes in a fourth tub of cold water nicely blued but not enough to color the feathers, rinsing her thoroughly and then I put her in a clean cage to dry where the temperature is about 80 degrees, using plenty of clean straw in bottom, the cage being provided with wire netting bottom. Wash the feet and legs thoroughly and pick off all old scales. In washing white birds you should remove all colored feathers as they show plainly when wet. After your birds are dry and do not come out chalk white have on hand some per- oxide of hydrogen and take a sponge and go over them with this being careful to get none on legs. This will put them in pink of condition. After this put some vaseline on their legs rubbing them well with it. If you have done your 92 BRIGGS* SYSTEM OF work thoroughly your bird will be in fit condition to go into any show and win the blue ribbon if it has the natural qual- ity. You should tame your birds so they will be very gentle and pose nicely for the judge. A bird must be trained to show its shape if you expect to win in strong competition. R. C. RHODE ISLAND RED The Secret of Feeding Salt. It is not generally known to the poultry world that salt is the greatest conditioner and the greatest egg producer known to the poultry world. Poultry will be in much better condition and lay fully 25 per cent more eggs per year per hen if fed a reasonable amount of salt the year around and) the whole flock will be in much finer condition for it. POULTRY RAISING 93 I am satisfied after a series of careful experimenting that the only perfect way to feed it is by mixing it with processed oats or barley whichever you process. An ounc^' to 100 hens is about right or a small handful to a large pail of feed. Fowls are just crazy all the time for the processed oats which have been salted as directed. I discontinued salt on one lot A WELL BRED S. C. WHITE LEGHORN COCK of layers during lulv and started it again in August and doubled the egg yield in 15 days from the time I started us- ing it again. Young chicks will grow much faster and keep much more healthy if fed processed oats salted same as for laying hens. The loss should be nothing to speak of and birds will mature and lav fullv a month sooner. If you want to obtain the greatest profit from your poultry plant do not fail to use salt the year around as directed. 94 BRIGGS' SYSTEM OF RESULTS: Among the thousands who have bought my book I find there are a few who want results of my plant in figures. On account of selling part of my breeders every season begin- ning in August, for this reason it is impossible to give results on my plant for one year, but to slunv you what can be done with 1000 layers in seven months, starting January 1, I have carefully gone over my books and am giving you results in sales of eggs and baby chicks only for se\en months for the reason that Poultry .Success has been advertising $3500 in seven months from 1000 layers. When I gave them these figures I had no idea my sales were about $4,000 in the seven months, had I taken sales of stock and broilers in my estimate which I did not. First I will give you sales of eggs for each month for seven months beginning January 1, and will give you a separate account of baby chicks sold monthly. This will give you some idea what can be done by care if you will follow my method and do a liberal ammmt of ad- vertising for you cannot sell hundreds and thousands of dol- lars' worth of eggs for hatching and baby chicks if you do not advertise liberally. In giving the sales of eggs and baby chicks for seven months I want to say 100 Leghorn hens were sold May 10th for $13.';.00. So from May 10th on I had only 900 layers in my estimate. T will first give you my sale of ee^s bv months: January, $12,^.50; February, $271.84; March, $38,S.18; April, $740.82; May, $406. 96; June, $182,64; July, $201.36; or a total of $2312.30 worth of co^s in seven months from 1000 layers. Now remember this is in- dependent of the eggs used for hatching 2,000 young chicks for mv own plant. The baby chicks sold as follows: March, $186.40; April, -$343; May, $459.93; June, $197.50; July, $79, or a total of $1,265.83 for baby chicks for first seven months and all Leghorn baby chicks were sold at $10.00 per 100 and the average hatches were 300 to 330 chicks from 400 eggs set, which proves that my eggs run fertile as T claim and give phenomenal hatches of chicks that are so large and strong that they arc easily raised with but little care. Tn closing I want to say what I have done T believe can easily be done by anyone who will put up one of my free-range plants and follow my method as laid down in this book and do a liberal amount of advertising. I want to say that the total sales from 1,000 layers at end of year will exceed $5,000, So you must know that there is a fair amount of profit left such as but few other kinds of business can return. INDEX OF SUBJECTS A combinatiou plant .... 62 A Leghorn plant for profit . 56 An egg plant for profit ... 22 A perfect brooder 46 A system for large breeds . . 65 A AYhite Wyandotte plant for profit 59 A yarded plant, how to erect 67 B. Bees .... 62 Bowel trouble, cause and cure 49 Breeders, loss of 63 Breeding for layers 88 Brigg's dry mash for baby chicks 86 Briggs' dry mash for laying fowls 87 Brigg's poultry plant .... 7 Broilers, how to raise .... 49 Brooder, a perfect 46 Brooder, a fireless 68 Broody hens, how to break . 89 Care of laying hens on free range 21 Caring for a yarded plant . 36 Changing breeding stock 34, 35, 44 Chicks, how to feed .... 49 Chicks raised nature's way . 41 Colds and roup 52 Colony, size of 12 Combination plant for profit —Fruit, Poultry and Bees 62 Construction of model laying house 15 D. Desirable size of plant .... 15 Dry mash for baby chicks . 86 Dry mash for laying fowls . 87 Duck culture 69 Early chicks 79 Eggs, keeping clean in nest . 74 Eggs every month in the year 80 Egg preserving formula ... 89 F. Fattening poultry, how to do it 89 Failures 10 Feed for young ducks ... 69 Feed hoppers 20 Feed, processed 26 Feeding and selection of large breeds 65 Feeding chicks 41 Feeding salt 92 Feeding system when wheat and oats can not be used 53 Feeding unthreshed grain . 81 Fences 13 Fireless brooder 68 Free range plant with least labor 34 Fruit, poultry and bees ... 62 Q. Gapes, secret of curing and how to prevent . . 84 H. Hatching baby chicks for market 45 Hatch, when to 41 Helping chicks out of shell . 67 Hen in wild or natural state 12 Hoppers for feed 20 Hoppers, making of. . . 20 House, incubator . . . .38 House, model laying house plan 15 House, construction of model laying 15 How to erect and run a poultry plant for profit . 12 How^ to keep green feed all summer in a yarded plant 36 How to make best lice pow- der 84 How to make best liquid lice killer 85 How to start in the poultry business 54 How to tell the laying hen . 89 I. -Incubator house, how to build 38 Incubator, how to run ... 38 K. Keeping eggs clean in nest . T-t L. Late hatched chicks 79 Laying hens, care of on range 21 Laying hens, how to tell . . 89 Laying house 15 Laying out a plant ... 13 Leghorn plant for profit . . 56 Lice powder, how to make . 8+ Liquid lice killer, how to make 85 Location of plant . .12 Loss of breeders . . .63 M. Molting ... . . 64- Molting fowls early, how to do it . . . '. . . 91 Nests . N. O. Oats, sprouted .... Oats, sowing for flock 19 26 31 Secret of breaking up broody hens quickly 89 Secret of curing gapes . . . 84 Secret of curing white diar- rhoea 83 Secret of fattening poultry . 89 Secret of feeding salt .... 92 Secret of feeding unthrashed grain . . . . . 81 Secret of getting eggs every month in the year . . .82 Secret of large egg yield . . 80 Secret of making best and cheapest lice powder . . 84 Secret of making best liquid lice killer . 85 Secret of molting fowls early 91 Secret of preparing \vhite fowls for exhibition ... 91 Secret of preserving eggs . . 87 Secret of raising turkeys . . 86 Secret of raising late hatched chicks . .... 79 Secret of ^uccess 10 Secret of telling the laying hen 89 Selection and feeding of large breeds 65 Se.\, telhng the 73 Size of colony or flock ... 13 Slope of land 13 Soil 13 Specifications of model laying house . . . .... 15 Sprouting oats 26 Starting in ths poultry busi- ness, when and how . . 54 Summer care of flock .... 31 Packing eggs for hatching and market 72 Plan of model laying house . 15 Preparing white fowls for ex- hibition ... 91 Processed oats, feeding . . . 26 Processed oats, how to make 26 Processed feeds and how to produce them ... 26 Raising broilers ... 49 Raising chicks nature's way 41 Raising late hatched chicks . 79 Roup 52 Result.s, financial .... 94 Telling the sex . . Turkeys, secret of raising W. 73 86 Water supply by streams or springs 12 Watering in winter .... 25, 26 White diarrhoea ... 49, 83 White fowls, how to prepare for exhibition .... 91 White Wyandotte plant for profit 59 Winter care of layers . . 21-22 S. Salt, feeding 92 Secret of breeding for layers 88 Yarded plant, caring for . . 36 Yarded plant, how to erect . 67 POULTRY SUCCESS THE 20TH CENTURY MAGAZINE THE WORLD'S FAVORITE AND LEADING POULTRY JOURNAL SHOWS YOU HOW TO SUCCEED IN ALL BRANCHES OF THE POULTRY BUSINESS .-. ACKNOWLEDGED THE BEST AUTHORITY ON ALL POULTRY MATTERS .-. Established 1889 ; monthly, 84 to 236 pages ; handsome illustra- tions; best writers; tells just what you want to know. Shows how to get eggs; how to hatch, raise and care for chicks; best methods for broilers and roasters, how to use incubators and brooders ; how to mate to produce prize winners ; gives building plans, etc. and shows how to build and equip your plant. Full of good things, just the paper you want. Gives full details and all necessary information for the successfiil care and management of poultry for both Fancier and the Beginner. The monthly visits of "POULTRY SUCCESS" will enable you to make more money out of your poultry ; give you the up- to-date methods of successful poultrymen and the secrets that contribute to the best success in the business. HENRY TRAFFORD, Editor Eastern and Editorial Office Binghamton, N. Y. We want local representatives in each community and have an attractive proposition to offer you. Write for particulars of our special club offers. Advertising rates on application. Lowest rates in proportion to circulation of any of the leading poultry journals. Circulation Guaranteed : average 50,000 copies per month. Correspondence solicited. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE -50c PER YEAR 10 CENTS PE R COPY SAMPLE COPY FREE Our FineBook'TOULTRY KEEPING IN A NUTSHELL" REGULAR PRICE 50C. FREE TO NEW YEARLY SUBSCRIBERS If you remit 50 cents and ask for it when you send your order and no other premium is taken in connection. POULTRY SUCCESS THE A. D. HOSTERMAN COMPANY, Publisher SPRINGFIELD, OHIO WE OFFER POULTRY MEN An exceptional opportunity to secure VALUABLE BOOKS ON POULTRY MANAGEMENT by taking advantage of our generous subscription offer for POULTRY SUCCS6St''"-'^^^'-y ^oultryman sh^ld read THE FOREMOST POULTRY PAPER POUL-TR' 'SUCCESS Progressive, live, v posted. A subscrip mioney, increase yoi .poultryman should -%"c.-. ^'■e. The Pjiper that keeps you JTRY;'- "''^'SCESS will save you ^fe'v-'^-^d better manager. Every SIX STANDARD B ^fS Of^t MANAGING THE POULTRY PLANT Profits in Poultry Keeping Solved, by Edffar Brigg's. This is the new re- vised 5th edition of this famous book just off the press, covering every phase of tlie business. Tiie Smith Method, a treatise on the possibilities of the small plant, one of the most valuable poultry books out. Thoroughly practical and helpful. Up=to°Date Poultry Houses and Appliances, containing drawings and designs for building the modern plant. A very valuable book, well illustrated. Price 50 cents. Poultry Keeping in a NutoShell, a book that gives a concise compil- ation of practical methods. Full of modern methods and short cuts. Every poultry raiser needs this book. Price 50 cents. Poultry Common Sense, our latest book. Full of short cuts to success- ful poultry raising. Contains egg, pen and hatching records. Ee&'ular price 50 cents. All About Indian Runner Ducks, late'-t. most practical and reliable book byMrs.I).O.Teasley,Mrs.Andrevp Brooks, Mrs. IT. R. Fishel. Mrs. Geo. E. Simpson and others. Every phase of the Duck business covered in a practical manner. Regular Price 75 cents. READ THIS PROPOSITION CAREFULLY POULTRY SUCCESS for one year and either Briggs or /U Smith books ^^•^\ POULTRY SUCCESS for three years and either Briggs or Smith books $1.50 POULTRY SUCCESS for one year and both Briggs and Smith books $1.50 POULTRY SUCCESS for one year and All About Indian Runner Ducks $1.00 POULTRY SUCCESS one year and either Up-to-date Poultry Houses or Poultry Keeping in a Nut-shell or Poultry Common Sense 50c POULTRY SUCCESS for three months' trial V.lOc (America's foremost poultry magazine, its pages filled to over- flowing with valuable short cuts, live poultry news, interesting articles by big men in the poultry world). ' Write TO-DAY, inclosing stamps or cash. A. D. HOSTERMAN CO., Publisher, SPRINGFIELD, 0. Eastern Office, Press Building, Bingliampton, M. Y.