X ^.. \ \ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. i-\ UJ^ITED STATES OF AMERICA. ■a;\ Price, d5 €ent$i. HOW TO ^ ^^^ Potr^^^ ^ It li m> 61 ■^^ If ¥ BY W. H. V. HARTFORD, CONN 1880. ..^ 1 How TO Eaise Poultry ON A LARGE SCALE ; SHOWING PLANS OF BUILDINGS, LAY-OUT OF RUNS, METHODS OF FEEDING AND TAKING NECESSARY CARE OF FOWLS ON A POULTRY FA-RM , f BY W. H. V. HARTFORD, CONN. 1880. PREFACE. The interest taken in the subject to which this book is devoted is now rapidly on the increase, especially here in our own country where many enthusiasts stand ready with capital, but are restrained for the time by unfortunate precedents, waiting only for some one to take the successful initiative, when they will embark at once in the undertaking. The difficulties attending the starting and running of a large establishment, are nu- merous, and not to be lightly put aside, but are only to be overcome by persistent and studied effort, backed by energy and determination. We submit the following plan of a poultry farm, not indeed, as one perfect in all its appointments, but as one that at least lays some claim to merit, and that if properly carried out, cannot but render a fair return for the capital and labor employed. 0,% 1~^ ^ COPYRIGHT, I650, BY H. H. STODDARD. M HOW TO RAISE POULTRY ON A LARGE SCALE. 5-3iC$< The signal failure, some years ago of the large es- tablishment under the direction of Mr. Geyelin, at Brom- ley. England, hushed temporarily the discussion of the subject of poultry keeping on a large scale, and gave rise to distrust as to the feasibility of such an under- taking, even among its most sanguine advocates. At this distant day, one in looking over Mr. Geyelin's treatise, entitled " Poultry Breeding in a Commercial point of view," if he has had any experience whatever in the keeping of fowls, cannot but note the absurdities — coupled as they are with much that is really valuable and original — that stare at one on every page; the evi- dent result of regarding the subject with the aid of theory alone, without that real and thorough knowledge of fowls which is indispensable to success in keeping them in large numbers. The failure of this establishment, made on a basis so fundamentally wrong, and only to be likened to that of the " house built upon the sand," is 6 HOW TO BAISE PO ULTB Y not to be in the least considered as a discouragement to further efforts in this direction, but rather as an incen- tive, inasmuch as it is a wonder that it kept up the semblance of prosperity the little while it did. It simply stands as a warning to after enterprises to shun the artificiality which proved its ruin. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. No business can prosper unless pursued intelligently and energetically, and the least of all, this. To this calling a man's whole time must be given, and that de- votedly. He cannot sit down in his cushioned office and give orders to others, expecting every little detail, so inseparable from poultry keeping, to be properly at- tended to by hired help, without further trouble on his own part. He, himself, must be up and doing, and keep- ing others doing, superintending and directing not only in the daily routine of duties, but seeing to it that everything additional is promptly performed that would in any way contribute to the comfort and welfare of his fowls. In fact, in this business, more directly perhaps than in any other, does success depend on the man at the head of affairs ; for with a fair amount of capital to start with, the result, barring everything not to be foreseen, rests virtually with him. His adaptability, or not, to the position, indicates in a great measure the future of the enterprise, for, in the plan chosen, the arrangement and construction of the various buildings, the general system of labor adopted, and numerous other things incident to such an establishment, the character of ON A LARGE SCALE. 7 the man will unmistakably be evinced if he is at all original. It is scarcely needful to say that a person who con- siders fowls as something beneath his notice, and the care of them as unbecoming, and lowering to the dig- nity of a man, would not be the proper one to run a poultry farm, even if he could be induced to do so. No book or treatise can be substituted for that real thorough knowledge of fowls that is absolutely necessary to success, and which can be obtained only through ex- perience. Books, when they give expression to the ex- perience of others, are, as such, really valuable, and will render efficient assistance in connection with practical experience — but will not without it. In comparison to the skill and experience required to keep such an estab- lishment working successfully in all its departments, and its stock vigorous and free from disease, that demanded by an ordinary yard is insignificant. In the starting of so large an undertaking, one must begin at the founda- tion and work it up slowly into a perfect structure, year by year, keeping pace with it the while, in the increase of experience resulting from this growth ; for it is safe to say that no one could start such an establishment complete in all its appointments, and under full headway from the very beginning, without previous experience to somewhere near the same extent, and succeed. The many and various wants of fowls are synonymous with necessities — and no better word can be used in ex- pressing them, nor a better meaning understood in sup- plying them. Any one want left unsupplied will be sure 8 JIOW TO RAUSE POULTRT to be heard from unfavorably in one way or another. To keep fowls in a natural and profitable condition, self- imposed exercise is required, and this is only obtained by giving them an extensive range, wherein there are shrubbery, grass and plowed ground to engage their at- tention, and favor their instincts, and not by confinement in small enclosures where there is no living thing, save the fowls themselves, and no incentive to action unless it be to gain their freedom, and for that purpose keep travelling back and forth along the fence to find some opening for their escape. Close confinement soon tells on the spirit and vigor of the most robust fowls ; and .after the first novelty of their surroundings wears off, the birds stand around seemingly tired and weary of the monotonous life they are forced to lead, and as if they cared not how soon night closed down upon them, and gave excuse for indulging their drowsy inclinations. It is not sufficient to have runs large; they must al- so be frequently stirred by the plow, and should be changed yearly to avoid the possibility of becoming tainted. The herding together of fowls in large flocks is productive of much evil, both in its direct opposition to the instincts of the birds, they being accustomed in their wild state to roam around in small flocks, general- ly under the leadership of a single cock, and also in the increased liability to disease in such an unnatural mob, and is by all means to be avoided. GROUND PLAN. The establishment here described, is, in all its ap- ON A LARGE SCALE. . 9 pointments arranged on a scale that will accommodate 3,000 laying fowls, and the chickens that are required to be raised yearly for their renewal; although the- plan is susceptible of contraction or extension to any desired size. Let it be borne in mind, however, that with the increase of number of fowls on a poultry farm, the risk of en- gendering disease is proportionately increased. In this plan detached houses are employed, to avoid the evil results arising from the gathering together of a very large number of fowls under one roof, and also the ill-shaped and inconvenient runs that such a central- izing system would necessitate. Only enough concentra- tion is employed in the several houses as will render pecuniarily feasible the artificial warming of them at a low temperature, barely sufficient to make them comfort- able during cold weather, while there is not enough to increase the liability to disease, the buildings being roomy and kept thoroughly ventilated, as would be the case if the flocks were all allotted rooms in one large general poultry house for that purpose. These houses are located and arranged so that their yards, enclosed by movable fence, may be placed on either side of them as desired, thus giving them an annual change of runs, and leaving the land free for cultivation on the one side or the other every year alternately. By cultivation, all possibility of the ground becoming tainted is done away with, and at the same time the manure dropped by the fowls aside from that within the house, is employed to great advan- tage in the growing of crops. Ready access is given to all the houses from the side under cultivation, without lO now TO RAISE POULTRY any hindrance from fences or gates, as these are all re- moved to the opposite side to form runs on the land that was under cultivation the year previous. FIG. I. GROUND PLAN. The diagram represents the poultry farm proper, ex- clusive of the breeding yards and houses, nursery, barn, and all other necessary buildings. The houses are repre- sented by the black oblong figures, several of which are •* ON A LARGE SCALE. II marked A A, and are arranged three in a row, running east and west, consequently facing the south. Of these rows there are five placed 20 rods apart. Tp each of these houses, placed distant from one another 32 rods in a row, are connected four runs of half an acre each, these corresponding to the four apartments inside each house. The flocks to which these large rooms with their attach- ed runs are allotted, consist of fifty fowls each. The heavy black lines which enclose the whole diagram, and also those running from one house to another east and west in the rows, are to represent stationary fences. The boundary fence is picketed its whole height, simply hav- ing a base-board for a rest to the ends of the pickets ; while those between the houses are boarded up three feet from the ground, and pickets above that, the boarding to afford protection from the sweeping north winds during cold weather. The fine lines running both parallel with and also at right angles to the rows of houses, and di- agonally across from one house to another, represent the movable fence as employed to divide the land between two rows of houses into runs for the same. Between each two rows there are twelve acres of land, and this is cut up by the movable fence into twenty-four uniform triangular yards of half a acre each, four of these radi- ating from each one of the six adjacent houses. Since these runs are located first on one side of their houses, and then on the other, alternately yearly, the runs con- nected with and lying between rows No. 2 and 3, as illustrated in the diagram, and as they are for conven- ience supposed to be located this year, will be placed 12 HOW TO RAISE' POULTRY on the opposite sides of those houses next year, on the open land that is under cultivation this year, and will there be met by the runs connected with rows No. i and 4, as they are transferred also to fresh ground ; while the land occupied as runs this year will be vaca- ted and placed under cultivation next. These alternate strips of cultivated land intervening, as they of course do between the strips of land occu- pied by runs, in a measure isolate the fowls in each one of these latter, thus lessening in no small degree the risk of disease attending the gathering together of such a large number of fowls. When the runs belonging to row No. 5, are changed next year to the opposite or northern side of the houses, they will reach, to the line or boundary fence situated ten rods off, as does row No. I, this year on the south. Thus they will contain their regular quantity of . half an acre each, only differ- ing from the others in that they are not met by runs still further on. There must of necessity be a strip only half the width of that between two rows of buildings along the outside of the first and last rows, however far the plan may be extended, to supply room for the runs to those rows every other year, and will of course be cultivated in turn. The dotted lines that run parallel with the rows close along by the houses, and on both sides of them, are to indicate the location of roads. These are traveled by a horse and cart for the distribution of food, water, and dry earth, the collection of eggs, the removal of manure, and for the performance of any other work ON A LAIiGE SCALE. 13 in connection with the houses requiring the use of a cart. These roads are permanent, and are kept well rounded up ; but only those skirting the strips of land that are under cultivation are used, as they give access to all the houses, the latter having doors on both sides, so being entered equally as well from the road, which- ever side the cultivated land necessitates its being. These branch roads all start out from the main road BB, which leads from the cooking and store buildings, and the course that is taken in going the rounds on them at feeding time is indicated in the diagram by arrows. When cold weather approaches in the fall, and the crops have been removed from the cultivated land, the yards are all placed on the south side of the rows to give the fowls a pro- tection on the north, in the shape of their respective houses, and also the stationary fences ; these latter af- fording a warm exposure for basking. In the winter, when the runs are thus placed, the cart in making its trips, goes up on the north side of each row, and turn- ing short about, returns to the main road, instead of going up on the north side of one, and then crossing over at the end, and returning along the south side of the next, as is the order in summer. Along part of the north side of No. i, and the south side of row No. 2, between the wagon path and the fence, small dots will be perceived ; these, as a sample only, point out the location of chicken coops during late spring and early summer. The road is used to facilitate feeding the broods, just as with the older fowls. It would be difficult to find a 14 HOW TO BAISE POULTRY spot more to the liking of chickens, or one that would contribute in a greater degree, other things being favor- able, to their general thrift than this Here they have free range over the fresh cultivated ground, among the corn, roots, potatoes, or whatever crops be grown, to forage for worms and insects, all of which are very ben- eficial to chickens, as they supply them with their natu- ral food, and also serve to screen them from the heat of the sun. This plan of cooping the hens and their chicks, not only furnishes the latter with their much-needed in- sect food, but also in a great measure frees the growing crops of these, their enemies. BUILDING FOR LAYING STOCK. There are several essential elements that should enter into the construction of every fowl house. Beyond these the smaller details and arrangements are dictated by con- venience, economy and ingenuity. Aside from roof and walls, proof against rain and wind, the building should be so constructed that it can be adjusted to suit the season. In summer the whole house should be thrown wide open to give a free circulation of air, in imita- tion of trees, the favorite resort of fowls for roosting in warm weather. On an ordinary farm, barring the trouble that is always experienced in inducing fowls ac- customed to roosting in the open air, to enter their house on the approach of cold weather, no better roost- ing place than this which is theirs in a state of nature can be furnished them during this season. But on a poultry farm nature cannot be so literally followed of (9iV A LARGE SCALE, 15 course in this respect, but can only be imitated as closely as possible. Too much air cannot be given fowls during summer ; even draughts, that at all other season^ are to be so carefully guarded against, add much to their com- fort then, if not too direct and strong while on their roosts. How many poultry houses there are in which due provision is made for comfort during cold weather but none whatever for hot, by this turning of indoors into out, but in which instead the air is close, almost stifling, during the heated season, and from which a fowl will instinctively take leave if it has any other re- sort to which it can go for roosting. A house that is properly arranged in this respect is quite a rarity, and is the exception and not the rule. With cold weather the house should be tightly closed, provision always being made for free and thorough ven- tilation. For the farmer or village dweller who does not strive to induce winter laying to any great extent, but only enough to supply his own wants in that direction, a poultry house well and carefully built is all that is required, fowls, feed and care being favorable. Not so with the large market breeder. He should aim to stimu- late laying among a certain portion of his flocks during cold weather to an extent that is only natural in the shooting spring, and so take advantage of the alluring and highly profitable prices that rule at this season of the year ; and for this, aside from other requirements, a uniformly warm house is necessary. Provision should be made in a large spacious house by artificial means for the continuation within doors of i6 JIOW TO RAISE POULTRY an artificial spring, since fowls exposed to the full sever- ity of the weather, are at once, and in most cases ef- fectually, checked in their preparations for laying. This perpetual spring should not be brought about by means that will interfere in the least with perfect ventilation, as by crowding a large flock of fowls into a close building, and retaining the heat generated by their bodies, raise the temperature within to the desired height. This FIG. 2. LAYING HOUSE. would not do. Heat would be there, but it would be accompanied by the greatest enemy to success : close and foul air. Glass cannot be relied upon to give the steady and uniform warmth that is demanded by a large establishment to insure a favorable yield of eggs, as during winter the sun is frequently hidden for days together, thus rendering the glass for the time being of no avail, as far as heating is concerned. This is also the case during nights. For the small family Oj^ a large scale. 1 7 flock, the requirements considered, no better, more con- venient, or less troublesome mode of providing warmth, to quite an extent, can be employed, when the .glass is properly located. When in addition to a large and well exposed surface of glass, the house has also its walls bricked or stoned up and embanked on the outside with earth, or when the house itself is lowered in the ground, it being walled up and carefully drained, the most per- fect winter house is obtained, excepting one warmed at a moderate temperature by fire. In this case the earth renders assistance in warming, and that quite uniformly, while the bricks or stones composing the walls gather heat during sunny days and gradually radiate it through the . night. Ventilation from the bottom is not so easily obtained in an under-ground house as in one that is located on the surface and banked up, as from the floor of the latter a small box- tunnel can be carried horizontally to the outer air, so giving escape to the heavier gases" that will not ascend to find an opening. The latter style of house, provided it be properly arranged, would be well adapted to fill the requirements of a poultry farm, if it were not for the large original outlay that the masoned walls and the throwing up of heavy embankments of dirt against the same would incur. AVith a frame house warmed by a stove the original cost is much less. To be sure the money, the interest of which is required to produce this heat, will just about equalize the two in that respect, still it is not capital invested, as is the other, and so is uncalled for ; it is taken from the profits of the estab- 1 8 HOW TO RAISE FO UL Til Y lishment, and is simply a requirement on the debtor's side, the same as feed, labor, etc. When this was taken into consideration, and the fact that such a house could be more perfectly thrown open in the summer, and also more thoroughly ventilated at all seasons (in this greatly assisted by the stove in winter), as located on the sur- face of the ground it can be readily opened at bottom as Avell as top, and that it would be more easily accessi- ble than a house banked up or one lowered in the ground, it was adapted as the style of building for the general laying and breeding stocks and for the nursery. Fig. 2 illustrates the exterior of the house for the general laying stock, and is one filling the stations rep- resented by A A, in the diagram, Fig. i, page lo. In this house provision has to be made, it will be remembered, for four flocks, and that in such a way that the several rooms can be opened on either side, in conformity to the location of their runs, which alternate yearly from one side to the other. To this end the house, which is 20 X 53 feet is, after deducting five feet for a hall or passage way running directly across the center of the building, divided up crosswise into four apartments of 12 X 20 feet each, two on each side of the hall. This hall, opening out both sides . of the building through wide doors, the one being used next the road travelled, and consequently the cultivated land, is to facilitate caring for, and feeding the fowls, and gives space for the stove and fuel required by the same during cold weather. The house is built seven feet high at the eaves, in- clusive of sills and plates, to allow of a flooring over- OK A LARGE SCALE. 19 head for a second story. This latter is to afford ample room, and give some chance for exercise indoors during unpleasant weather, when the fowls prefer to- remain within. This loft is also partitioned off into four large rooms and a hall, corresponding and connected with the ones immediately below. By this arrangement each fowl is give about ten square feet of surface. This allowance of room, in comparison to most poultry houses, is very large, may be thought by many rather extravagant, still it is no more than is required by fowls in winter for their comfort and welfare. The frame of this building is what is termed "balloon," by carpenters — that is — it is put up without the aid of mortices and tenons, being simply squared and spiked together. The siding is of dressed pine, boarded up and down, and battened. Shingles are employed as roofing, as they are considered the cheapest and best cov- ering all things considered. The rafters have a pitch of about eight and a quarter inches to the foot, or in other words, there is a rise of seven feet from the plates to the peak. The peculiarity of the roof, the long ridge windows, are formed by extending the north rafters, after that they have met those on the south in the proper place, two feet further on, and then by stud- ding perpendicularly from their extreme ends down to the corresponding front rafters. The sheathing and shin- gling are carried up the north rafters to their extremities, while on the south ones the roofing ascends only to the base of the upright studs that reach to the ends of the overhanging north rafters. It will be seen that no extra 20 HO W TO RAISE POULTRY roofing is required to obtain these windows, as the raf- ters on either side being of the same pitch form two (equal sides of a triangle, the perpendicular window front forming the third. The expense of studding and casing is no more for these windows than for any other, while in comparison to other roof windows, the advantages gained are not inconsiderable. They perform the double office of window and ventilator. In the former capacity they thoroughly light the upper loft without the objec- tion of leakage which is always attached to glass in the roof, unless much pains is taken to render it water tight by painting and tinning, or by cementing. As ventilators they are capable of perfect adjustment to all seasons of the year, in cold weather being merely placed ajar, while in hot weather they are thrown wide open. Also these windows are comparatively exempt from injury by hail, whereas, if lying flat on the roof, they could not escape without more or less damage from such a storm. This, though a matter of too little consequence to be thought about in the construction of a small family poultry house, assumes much importance when large buildings are mul- tiplied on a poultry farm. These windows i 8 inches x 6 feet, are hinged on their upper sides, and in opening are shoved out at the bottom. A flat narrow strip of iron, 1 8 inches long, one end of which is fastened to the lower part of the sash, serves to keep the windows where placed, by slipping one of the several holes punched at short stages along its whole length, so as to regulate the opening, over a peg projecting from the windowsill. OiV A LARGE SCALE. 21 The front or south side of the house is glazed, save the space occupied by the five doors, one opening into each of the four rooms and the centre one into the hall or passage way. The former are to afford direct com- munication between each room, and its respective run the alternate years when situated on that side, and for convenience of removing manure and for introducing dry earth, when the opposite side is obstructed by yards. On the north side, not seen in the illustration, are five doors corresponding, and directly opposite to those on the south, to be used for the same purpose. The glazed front is divided into twelve windows, 3 feet x 6 feet each; three of these windows, and the accompanying door forming the front to each room. Both the upper and lower sash slide, and are kept where desired, by small drop catches (no springs), such as are frequently seen on car windows. A small window 2X2^ feet that slides sideways, opens into each of the lower rooms on the north side. These windows are intended mainly for the better airing of the house in summer. The windows, 3 feet square, in the gable ends, one in each, are hinged on the side, and open outwards. When opened they are hooked fast to prevent slamming. These win- dows in warm weather, by the draft that they create through the loft, add much to its comfort. Frames of coarse wire netting on the inside, serve to protect the windows from breakage, and in summer when the latter are open to prevent fowls from flying through. In the interior of the house, both up stairs and down, the several rooms and the halls are partitioned off 22 HOW TO RAISE POULTRY by light slat work; the strips that are used for this pur- pose being two and one-half inches wide, by one-half an inch thick. Wire netting, though much prettier, and less obstructive to light, is far too expensive to be used thus freely, in such large, and so many houses. The doors, above stairs, and below, through these partitions, leading from the hall into the two adjacent rooms on either side, and from them into the end apartments, are directly in the centre of them, and are likewise of slat work. An open stairway two feet wide leads from the lower hall to the upper one. The fowls in each set of rooms, com- posed of one each above and below, have their own stairway or ladder. These ladders eighteen inches wide, to allow of fowls passing one another on them, starting below from small platforms two feet high, close along side the partitions, ascend gradually to the upper floor. The roosts are arranged in the loft under the south slope of the roof. They consist, in each room, of a frame work formed by spiking, eighteen inches apart, three 3X4 scantlings, slightly rounded on top, and eleven and one-half feet long, on to side or end pieces of the same, five feet long, the back ends of these lat- ter being fastened to the rafters at a point two feet from the floor, by heavy strap hinges, and their front ends resting on cleats fastened to the side partitions the same distance from the floor. When in cleaning the floor, or doing any other work in which the roosts are in the way, the latter are lifted against the roof, and hooked fast. To assist in removing manure from, and introducing fresh earth into the loft, there is a hatchway ON A LARGE SCALE. 23 in the floor of the upper hall, tlirough which loaded bas- kets are raised and lowered by means of a small tackle fastened to a pair of rafters overhead. The nests, which are on the first floor, are arranged three tiers high, eight in a tier, against the north side of each room. Each nest is twelve inches deep, and thirteen inches wide, in height twelve inches. Those em- ployed in the houses occupied by the sitting breeds, will be illustrated, and explained hereafter, in connection with incubation. Small trap doors for the use of the fowls, and which the artist has failed to represent, are in the bottom part of the larger doors on both sides of the house. The building rests upon a foundation not only well sunken in the ground, beyond the reach of the frost, but also raised several inches above its surface, so allow- ing the ground within the house to be raised above that without, for the sake of dryness. Cement forms the flooring below, but is kept covered with a coating of dry earth three inches or four inches thick. Eave troughs are employed on these and all other buildings on the farm, nor is any hen house complete without them, nor has its owner done what he could for the comfort of his fowls, till he has provided them. The exterior of the houses are kept well painted. This is true economy with all buildings. BUILDINGS FOR BREEDING STOCK. To make substantial and gratifying progress in the breeding of stock, or to retain desirable qualities once gained, careful selection and proper mating for the objects in view must be observed. 24 HO W TO RAISE PO UL TR T As fowls, from the shortness of their generations, are susceptible of much improvement and transformation in both useful and ornamental qualities in a comparatively brief period, so are they liable to degeneracy quite as fast when neglected and the requisite precaution withdrawn. Were the eggs selected from the general laying stock, the eggs themselves being the only indicator of the character of the embryo chick within, doubtful indeed would be the product and seldom satisfactory. Penning has to be resorted to to attain the desired ends with the greatest certainty and the least trouble. In this yarding of the breeding stock, from six to nine hens are allowed to a single cock, the number varying with breed, age, and vigor. To each pen is allotted a room 6 x ii feet in the breeding house, illustrated in frontispiece. Provision is made in connec- tion with this house, as well as with those for general layers, for transfer of runs. More important, if possible, is this change with the breeding stock than with the laying, as unexceptional care in keeping healthy the for- mer, concerns also the latter — their product. Heretofore no house, divided up for several breeding stocks, has passed under my observation in which provision was made for the changing of the runs connected with it, at the option of its owner, so compelling the restriction of the fowls to one side year in and year out. To be forced to enclose breeding stock — your best and finest — in a fenced run is, at the best, unsatisfactory, and so every opportunity should be embraced that will improve and ease their condition. This ability to change runs is ON A LARGE SCALE. 25 furnished in the accompanying plan of house ; at the same time a passage-way, so indispensable for the proper, expeditious, and comfortable caring for the fowls is em- ployed, and that too without the sacrifice of an inch of ground-surface. This hall or passage-way, running along the back side of the building, is elevated — as will be seen by referring to illustration — two feet from the floor, thus spanning across each room, leaving its entire surface unintruded on, and giving exit to the fowls, when so wished, on the back as well as front side. The width of said hall is two feet six inches, and height from its flooring, which consists of one and one half inch hem- lock plank, to the plate or eaves six feet. Its front, the side next the fowls, is enclosed by slat-work, through which slat doors open into each pen or room. The par- titions dividing the house up transversely into eight equal sized rooms are of similar slat-work, above the base boards which are two feet high, to prevent the fighting of neighboring cocks. The dimensions of house are 48 X II feet on the ground, 5 feet high at front eaves, 8 feet high at back eaves — 2 feet below flooring of hall, and 6 feet above — and 9I feet at ridge or peak. The siding is of dressed pine, battened. The roof is shingled and its summit capped with an extended ventilator run- ning the whole length of the ridge. The windows in front, one opposite each pen, extend from the ground to the plates and are movable in each sash. Here let me mention that the glass employed in the several buildings is not of the first quality, but such as is termed "blistered" or "wavy," and can be procured much 26 now TO RAISE POULTRY cheaper than, while answering the purpose equally as well as perfect glass. In each gable end a large glass window is located ; these in summer greatly assist in airing. Three shutter windows open into the back of the pass- age-way and are solely for ventilation. The heater occu- pies one of the middle rooms, into which room doors open on either side from without. The nests, — light, detached bxDxes, fourteen inches square, in height the same, are placed on the floor facing the sides of the room. A single scantling, rounded on top, constitutes the roosts in each apartment. It is placed two feet from the ground and a foot from, and parallel to, the partition. Underneath each roost, and six inches removed from it, is fastened a broad board as a drop for the manure. The small hen doors both in front and rear, sliding up and down in groves, are raised and lowered by means of cord and pulley from the hall. The whole house is well though cheaply built. The runs, eight in all, of one-eighth of an acre each, enclosed with movable fence, radiate from the building on the one side or the other as the case may be. Of these breeding houses, there are four, all located in a row. And these and their runs, subject to road, cultivation, etc., are as the houses and runs for layers. The stationary fence running east and west between the adjoining houses is on a direct line with the center of the doors opening at the ends into the passage-ways. The last or end lengths of this fence being movable, the rails resting in slots, veer off to one side or the other of the door as the culti- vated land necessitates, in this way, by proper adjust- OiV A LARGE SCALE. 27 ment, giving free access to the door on whichever side desired. SELECTION OF BREEDS. The excellency of the fowls with which a poultry farm is stocked, is a matter of great moment. In fact, where buildings, range, food, etc., are provided in con- formity with their health, comfort, and nature, success quite centers on the quality of the birds. A poor or indifferent layer will barely produce eggs to balance her keeping, while the extra three or four dozens resulting from a superior hen constitute the profits ; the quantity of food consumed by the two being equal, care being the same, and nature not being violated by overcrowding, comparison between two individual hens, bad and good, is also a safe comparison when the number is multiplied. In selecting breeds with a view to stocking a poultry farm, "sitters" and "non-sitters" should be pretty evenly balanced. If, however, early chickens are not desired, the " non-sitting " persuasion may predominate slightly. Of the "sitters," Brahmas, both Dark and Light, Dom- iniques, and Plymouth Rocks, are to be preferred. The quiet, contented disposition, great winter-laying qualities, and exceeding hardiness both as adults and chickens recommend the Brahma in the strongest terms to the poultry farmer. The Dominique, a fowl which from its general dissemination throughout the country, is looked upon by many as only a higher order of dunghill, but which was really imported in the early history of our country as a distinct breed, from continental Europe, 2S HOW TO RAISE POULTRY possesses many valuable qualities, not the least of which is surprising hardiness ; owing doubtless to their long and thorough acclimatization. The ideal market and table fowl in this country is undoubtedly the justly popu- lar Plymouth Rock. Owing to the excessive sitting pro- pensities of the Cochins, these fowls are not just the thing for a poultry farm, and the Dorking, so popular and common in England, is not suitable for our climate — at least does not sustain the reputation with us that is universally conceded to it at home, while the Game fowl is rendered entirely valueless for our purpose by its pugnacious disposition. Our choice among "non-sit- ters " is unhesitatingly Leghorns, white or brown, and Houdans. The latter are an excellent table fowl — matur- ing early, as do also the Leghorns, while both are superior layers. Of the other "non-sitting" breeds none are so well adapted to the wants of the i)oulterer, as all seem more or less predisposed to colds and roup ; while even the Houdans and Leghorns are not absolutely free from its visitations. But however prolific layers, of whatever breed, may be the occupants of well regulated yards, judicious and studied feeding is requisite to the full employment of their powers, INCUBATION. The contingencies attending chickenhood through all its stages, from first conception till full maturity, are too numerous and multiform to allow of any blunders of either omission or commission in care during a single ON A LARGE SCALE. 29 period. The old adage, warning you not to count your chickens "before they are hatched," might with fitness be stretched to "until they are grown." With, the selec- tion and mating of the breeding stock the work begins. Vigor here is of paramount importance, for however perfect a chicken may be in all other respects, without a good constitution it is a failure. Careful conformity in the number of fowls composing a breeding-pen is to be sought as to the season; winter and early-spring not ad- mitting of more than half the number of hens with a cock that would later in the season be none too many; also, as to breed, size, and age, and not unfrequently, individual " crinks and cranks," especially in the cock. Such things being nicely weighed, and the care and sur- roundings of the fowls being such as to promote health, the eggs will, almost without exception, prove fertile, and thus the first difficulty to be encountered in chicken- rearing successfully overcome. During incubation, risk is run, especially on a poul- try farm, unless perfect system is employed. The con- struction and location of the nests so as to afford complete protection to the inmates from intrusion is indispensable. Were no especial provision made for sitting, eggs simply being placed under the broody hen in the ordinary nests, the result would be most discouraging,— a decided failure. Each nest thus set would become public property forthwith. A hen wishing to lay would take extra trouble to crowd in with one sitting and deposit her egg. No other spot would quite suit her fancy. Also, one becoming broody would instantly be- so BO W TO RAISE PO UL TR Y take herself to the nest of a sitter, and without stopping to ask whether she would like to go " snooks," step in and claim half. The occupant remonstrating, a scuffle would ensue, resulting in the breakage of at least two or three eggs, and in a final compromise. Nor could a legitimate sitter leave her nest without unfailingly finding it appropriated on her return. " Confusion worse con- founded " would reign. This lesson experience has taught indelibly. There are several ways of isolating sitting hens, any one of which is far preferable to no protection, still among which there is a decided choice. One, that of removing broody hens from the laying houses, and allotting to each one a small pen or room, three or four feet square, in which is placed the nest, also dust-bath, water, and feed-fountain, in a large sitting-house, though answering the purpose as far as seclusion is concerned, has its drawbacks. In the first place, this necessitates the re- moval of the hens from their accustomed nests, — an operation to be avoided, when it may be as easily as not, though when the fowls in question are Asiatics, and the attendant quite gentle and well-versed in their care, it is quite generally accompanied with success. Also, the hens thus placed seldom take the necessary exercise, rarely leaving their nests, while the greatest objection is that of the extensive additional buildings needed. Another plan is that of confining hens closely to their nests, and daily removing them by hand to small feeding-pens, and after allowing them sufficient time for eating and dust- ing, return them again. This involves much labor, and ON A LARGE SCALE. 31 unless the hens be exceedingly quiet and docile, risk also. Still a third system might be employed. Let the hens be removed to a sitting-house and placed, on nests arranged along the sides, each hen being confined to her nest by means of a frame of wire netting fitting over its entrance. Feeding time at hand, remove the frames from the front of a few nests at a time, and after the inmates have returned, replace the frames and remove others, going through the same process till all be cared for. While this latter is to be preferred to either of the above, it still has its weak points. The objects being to shun the expense of extra buildings and the removal of hens from their wonted nests, while also caring for them with the least possible handling, and expenditure of time and labor, the following plan is deemed prefer- able to either of the foregoing, and the one best meeting these ends. The nests as illustrated in the Fig. 3, are those employed in all the laying-houses occupied by the "sit- ting" breeds, and can be easily converted into sitting- nests as wanted,— one or more. These nests consist of a single row three tiers high, and are open on both sides, having no stationary backs, but instead, a small frame of wire netting buttoned over one opening of each nest, and constituting a movable back. They are located on the ground or lower floor, one set of course, to each apartment, a little back of the center of the room, and extending across it, with the exception of a space of two feet, left as a connection between the two parts of the room. Each nest is fifteen inches square, — 32 now TO MAISE POULTRY in height eighteen inches, — five of which is for eartfi under the nests. Of these nests there are twenty-four, — eight in a tier, — three tiers. The front or face strips that run along both sides of each tier, holding in the earth and straw, are six inches high, and are fastened to every alternate partition-board by screws, so that, the sitting season being over, they can easily be removed to facilitate cleaning out the nests. Also, alighting boards, eight inches wide, pass along both sides. In the pas- sageway, left between the end of the nest-frame and side of the room, a slat door is hung, which is closed across the passage when the sitters are being fed. Likewise, the space above the nests, between them and the ceil- ing, is slatted, so that when the door is closed, a com- plete partition is formed across the room. it will be observed that the top or cover of the third tier of nests has a double pitch, from the ridge of which the slat- work ascends. This pitch is to prevent fowls from em- ploying it as a roost. On the approach of the sitting-season, the nests, that during the rest of the year open in the row, first one on one side, and the next on the other, alternately, are all made to face the south by the transfer of all the wire frames to the north side. As soon as a hen be- comes broody, her nest having been duly prepared by placing in the bottom several inches of fresh earth formed into a very slight hollow, on which is spread a light covering of soft mashed straw, or better still, leaves, and eggs placed within, a second frame of netting is buttoned on the front or south side of the nest. The OW A LARGE SCALE. 33 hen is thus completely enclosed on iier chosen nest, while all intrusion on the part of other fowls, also, from the fineness of the wire mesh, of rats and^ weasels, is rendered impossible. From what has been already said it is scarcely necessary to state that all hens are thus treated on being set. FIG. 3. NESTS. Feeding time for the sitters having arrived, the at- tendant passes to the north side of the nests through the door left at the end of the tier, closing it after him, thus effectually shutting out from the north side of apartment the laying hens. Then food and water being provided, he removes the wire frames on that side from the nests of half a dozen sitters, — never more at once and they well scattered about in point of location, — and 3 34 IIOW TO RAISE POULTRY withdrawing, leaves these to their eating and dusting, while he, in turn, steps into each of the other apart- ments of the building, going through the same process, and then on to the next building, performing the opera- tion as in the previous one, and so on. At the end of fifteen minutes, or thereabouts, he again makes his ap- pearance at the starting point, shutting into their several nests the sitters let out, and giving liberty to as many more. Thus, replacing the wire frames and removing others he goes through all the apartments of the several houses in strict order, till all the hens have received his attention. When the feeding has been accomplished, the hens being securely confined to their nests, the door in each apartment, — the closure of which forms these tem- porized feeding-rooms, — is again thrown open, and the general flock once more placed in full possession of their room. In almost every instance, the hens will have all re- turned to their nests at the expiration of the fifteen minutes, but occasionally a loiterer will be met with who has to be picked up and returned by hand. In this operation great gentleness must be employed, and the fowl simply placed on the alighting board in front of her nest, she herself entering. With systematic care, little trouble need be experienced in the working of this plan, the hens, with but few exceptions, returning each to her own nest. As a sure index for the attendant as to the belongings of each hen, they have marked on them with paint, on being set, small figures corresponding to others placed over their nests, the number of the figure indi- ON A LARGE SCALE. 35 eating the nest in the row, while the color of the paint points out the tier, three different colors being employed for three tiers. The earth placed under each nest occu- pied by a sitter is moistened twice a week from the spout of a watering-pot (the sprinkler removed), passed close around the outside of the nest. This mode of managing the sitting department is one that is eminently adapted to a family fowl-house as well as one on a poultry farm, and if properly carried out, the eggs being well fertilized, will insure success in this, to many, most difficult stage of chicken-bearing, — incubation. REARING. Each year, from the chicken runs, must be sent forth pullets numbering half the laying fowls, to fill the va- cancy caused by the older half — two years past — taking their way market-ward, if the best results are to be at- tained. The country over, mismanagement and neglect, in a greater or less degree, is too commonly the portion of chickenhood. The result, — a dwarfed, as compared with what proper food and care would make it, and unprofit- able growth. To mention the more prominent causes conducing to growth failure, will be to indicate the con- ditions of success. A common custom, that of taking the chickens from the hen as fast as hatched and plac- ing them by the fire, is the first matter calling for cen- sure. To be sure, there are occasional cases when it be- comes necessary for the safety of the chickens to remove them, owing to much irregularity in hatching, or some 36 HOW TO RAISE POULTRY other exceptional circumstance, of which many appear in poultry keeping, but otherwise they should be left un- disturbed. At this stage they require quiet and the strength- giving warmth of the hen. For the same reason, if all are doing well, the mother and her brood should not be hurried from the nest, but allowed to remain twelve or fifteen hours, only care being taken to remove cast-off shells. To prevent restlessness on the part of the hen, a feeding of corn, also drink, should be given her on the nest. The chicks, however, require and should receive no feed till removed. Again, too frequently, the diet of chickens, and all young poultry in fact, consists solely of fine corn meal ; and this repeated, feeding after feeding, and continued from the very first meal till growth carries them to a point where whole corn can be consumed, when the lat- ter is substituted. Many, from false ideas of economy, delude themselves into the belief that corn (meal and grain), and corn alone, constitutes the cheapest poultry food for both chickens and adults, because, weight con- sidered, its market price is the lowest. They are far astray, however. Such persons do not take the result into consideration. If they did, they would arrive at a different conclusion, as chickens analyze the grain fully as well, practically, as would the chemist. In nitrogenous matter, an element that enters so largely into the com- position of bone and muscle in the growing chick and the egg of the laying hen, corn is deficient — its value as food consisting rather in its fattening qualities. Owing to ON A LARGE SCALE. 37 the oil it contains, it is heating in its nature, and con- sequently, though desirable in cold weather, is to be avoided in warm. Nevertheless, no variety of grain, how- ever well embodying the requisites of chicken food, can be solely employed to the greatest profit. The diet needs to be an extended and varied one. Hard-boiled egg, constituting the feed for the first day or two, should be succeeded by an admixture of coarse corn meal, oat meal and wheat bran. Wheat middlings and ground buckwheat ought also at times to figure in the diet, taking the place of some of the other grains. A crumbly state is the only proper one in which to give soft feed, it being mixed to that consistency by scalding water, better still, milk, if obtainable, and given during spring, while yet warm. An excess of moisture in food, aside from all other objections, has a tendency to cause diarrhoea. As soon as chickens can readily appropriate the small- er grains, they should receive a small portion daily, the quantity being steadily increased, until at length, the soft food is entirely supplanted. All the different varieties of grain, including corn " cracked," may be fed to advan- tage, and should be, to a certain extent, to afford a change. But the demands on us, when we would thus assume nature's office of provider, are not all to be met by grain. An equivalent has to be given for insect food as well. This is best furnished in the form of refuse meat or liver chopped fine. Also, green food should, unfail- ingly, be supplied. This, in the absence of a grass plot, which is greatly to be preferred, must be provided by 38 HO W TO RAISE PO ULTR Y the introduction of finely-chopped grass into their soft feed, or by the use of cabbage, if early in the season. Water is, of course, needed, — pure and frequently re- newed. Milk, however, abounding as it does in growth material, is greatly to be preferred to water as a drink, and for the first few weeks at least, if reasonably ob- tainable, should be employed as such. In the case of the larger breeds, ground bone mixed in their feed will be found of great assistance in growth, correcting any tendency to leg weakness. Though all requisite food be provided, with the mode of giving it practiced by many, its otherwise good effects would be nullified. Three times a day, regardless of age and in overdoses, is no proper way of feeding chickens, though it is the common one. In quantity it ought to be only as much as will be readily eaten up at the time, and should be given early and late and frequently through the day. Let none be suffered to lie around, as in that case it speedily sours, and the chickens refuse to eat, and also from its constant presence their appetites are dulled. As the chickens grow older, the feedings need not be so fre- quent. Instead of being allowed the liberty to drag her brood through the drenching morning grass, the hen should be constantly confined to her coop, — when the chickens will take what exercise they wish and no more. The style of coop matters little so long as it is rain- proof, roomy, and comfortable, and can be closed at night to exclude vermin. Perhaps the ordinary tent coop is the best, supplemented by a movable bottom and a ON A LARGE SCALE. 39 night door, hinged on its upper edge. The bottom, used only at night and during wet weather, needs cleaning daily, and the whole coop ought to be occasionally moved its width on to fresh ground. When the hen deserts her brood, a short bit of joist with upper edges slightly rounded off may be placed on the floor of the coop and will provide the chickens with a roost. Sun is in- dispensable in all animal growth, and especially so in poultry, but in the height of summer, shade is no less important. I have in my mind at least two instances where young broods perished from heat when confined, through carelessness, under the direct rays of the sun, without chance of escape. I need not carry this further, only to remark that when restricted to her coop, the hen is of course, helpless to procure aught for herself or brood, and consequently, when neglected, both old and young invariably suffer, — likewise the pocket of their owner. If viewed in this latter light more generally, poultry would doubtless be better cared for, as; there are those who calloused to anything like commiseration for brute wrongs, feel the same with surprising acuteness when made aware of them via their pocket-books. On a poultry farm, system must be employed in the caring for, feeding, and housing of the chickens as well as the adult birds. For early chickens extra provision has to made in the matter of housing, ordinary coops being insufficient for the season. An illustration of such a house is un- necessary, — its construction being simple. It is sixteen feet in width, while in length it must conform to the 40 BOW TO RAISE POULTRY number of broods to be housed. Two feet is the height at the eaves; the roof having a double pitch, eight feet at the ridge. The whole south slope is glazed with with hot-house sash. Inside there are no stationary fix- tures, but the whole room is open and clear. The floor is of earth ; while, as a protection against rats, there projects outward from the bottom of the foundation underneath the ground a single layer of brick, twenty inches wide. Around or under this, rats seldom burrow. Earth is sought as a flooring for chickens owing to its unquestionable superiority over either cement pavements, or wood. No coops are employed within the house, but, instead, wired pens. These are arranged in two rows, one on either side of a long centre passage two feet wide. Each pen or run for a hen and brood is in width two feet, and extending from the passage to one side, is consequently seven feet long. To go to work to form these pens out of the open room, two sizes of frames of wire netting are required, the mesh the same in both, one half inch, to prevent the chickens passing through, — one size two by seven feet, the other two by ten feet. Of the former, two are needed to each pen, one as a cover, the other as a side or partition, while of the latter only one is needed to every five pens, as it forms their ends next the passage. These last-named, or passage frames, have double cleats placed across them on the in- side, every two feet in distance, as has also the correspond- ing side of the building, so that the partition frames have to be simply slipped down between these grooves, and every alternate one hooked fast at both ends, and ON A LARGE SCALE. 41 the pens are complete, excepting covers, which are hooked on. Small wire hooks are the ones used. Several shov- elfuls of sifted coal ashes or of fine earth ar-e thrown into each pen, and a drinking vessel hooked into the mesh, when all is ready for occupation. Cleanliness must, of course be observed, and thorough ventilation. The season over, but a few moments are required to remove the frames, when the building is free for some other purpose. Besides the heat from the sun, the rays of which, owing to the lowness of the eaves and height of the peak, penetrate every corner of the house, the pipe coming from the cooking stove in the adjoining room, carried the whole length of the building, is adding to its warmth. Owing to the molding influences of the centuries of domestication through which fowls have passed up to the present, primitive nature has, in many particulars, given away to one more modern and more in consonance with the change time through man, has wrought. Especially is this the case in matter of food, and by as much as present prolificness exceeds normal, or present size origi- nal, by so much must the quantity and quality of it now, surpass that of which nature was the purveyor. (9z;