487 
 57 
 >y 1 
 
 Essentials of 
 
 Successful Poultry Keeping 
 
 BY 
 
 E. J. W. DIETZ 
 
Essentials 
 
 OF 
 
 Successful Poultry Keeping 
 
 BY 
 
 E. J. W. DIETZ 
 
 Secretary National Exhibition Game Club 
 
 Published by 
 
 AMERICAN PUB. CO., 
 
 736 Cornelia Ave., Chicago, Ills. 
 
 1912 
 
^■x^ 
 
 >■ 
 
 
 Copyrighted 
 
 1912 
 
 E. J. W. DIETZ 
 
 ©CIA330203 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Everybody who has followed the 
 development of the poultry interests 
 in this country during the past few 
 years knows that we have made won- 
 derful progress in our knowledge and 
 methods of caring for these profit 
 producing animals. 
 
 This work has been taken up and 
 carried on by both state and private 
 parties and the results of these re- 
 searches have given us a great mass 
 of reading matter which is difficult 
 for the beginner to analize and under- 
 stand; because the same results have 
 been arrived at in so many different 
 ways. 
 
 With a hope of classifying these 
 various conclusions and pointing out 
 the fallacy or showing how imprac- 
 tical some of these theories really are 
 under our present average condition, 
 I have undertaken to produce this 
 book. 
 
 I do not assume infallability in 
 this subject but having followed poul- 
 try k-eeping from my childhood and 
 having made some success in breed- 
 ing and exhibiting various varieties 
 of bantams — the most artificial and 
 difficult of all the kinds of fowls to 
 rear — and having been compelled to 
 read and study many authors and con- 
 fer with many practical men in order 
 to make any progress in this art, I as- 
 sume this task with confidence. 
 
 My fellow fanciers have honored 
 me by causing my appointment as 
 judge to place the ribbons on the 
 Games and Bantams — the most ar- 
 tistic of all domestic fowls — on four 
 diiferent occasions in Chicago Poultry 
 Show and every year I have been com- 
 pelled to turn away invitations to 
 judge and score poultry because it 
 would interfere with my regular busi- 
 ness. 
 
 Poultry keeping is easily learnt. 
 The greatest difficulty is in picking 
 out the essentials, and it is my hope 
 in this work to give the specific se- 
 crets which will lead to success. 
 
 As it is essential in studying any 
 art that the student first know the 
 names of the necessary tools and im- 
 plements, I have planned to give first, 
 an outline of the various Varieties of 
 Poultry; second, The Characteristics 
 of Fowls; third. Feed and Feeding 
 Facts and follow with chapters on the 
 profitable Secrets of Caring for and 
 Rearing Fowls. 
 
 I feel very grateful to all who have 
 lent their aid in helping me to accom- 
 plish the details of this work and with 
 the hope that it will prove a real aid 
 in classifying some of our poultry se- 
 crets so my readers will reap richer 
 rewards, I pass this work along. 
 
 E. J. W. DIETZ, 
 Chicago, Ills. 
 
The Parts Named 
 
 1. Comb; 2, Face; 3, Wattles; 4, Ear-lobe; 5. Hackle; 6, Breast; 7, Back; 8, Saddle; 
 9, Saddle Hackle; 10, Main Sickle Feathers; 11, Tail Coverts; 12, Main Tail Feathers 
 13, Wing-bow; 14, Wing Coverts; 15, Primaries or Flight Feathers; 16, Body; 17, Front 
 of Breast Bone; 18, Thighs; 19, Hack; 20, Shank; 21, Spur; 22, Toes. 
 
Explanation of Terms 
 
 Clutch — A setting of eggs or brood of 
 
 chickens. 
 Cockerel — A young male. 
 Crest — A tuft of feathers on the head. 
 Cushion — The feathers which surround the 
 
 tail in Asiatic breeds. 
 Deaf Ears — The ear lobes. 
 Dubbing — The removing of the comb and 
 
 wattles. 
 Face — The bare part around the eyes. 
 Flights — The long quill feathers of the 
 
 wing. 
 Fluff — The soft feathering below the tail. 
 Furnished — A bird is said to be furnished 
 
 when it is fully developed in plumage 
 
 and body. 
 Gills— The wattles. 
 Hackles — The long, narrow feathers on the 
 
 neck. 
 Hen Feathered— A male bird is so des- 
 cribed when he has the plumage of the 
 
 female. 
 Hock — The second joint from the ground, 
 
 intermediate between the foot and thigh. 
 Keel — The breast bone. 
 Mossy — Clouded markings. 
 Pea Comb — A triple comb. 
 Penciling — The fine markings on a feather. 
 
 Primeuries— The long feathers of the 
 
 wing which are concealed when it is 
 
 closed. 
 Pullet— A young female bird. 
 Saddle — The short feathers on the back 
 
 next the tail. 
 Secondaries — The hard feathers in the wing 
 
 which show when it is closed. 
 Shafts — The quill of a feather. 
 Shank^ — The part of the leg between the 
 
 foot and the hock. 
 Sickles— The long curved feathers in the 
 
 male bird's tail. 
 Spangling — The dark spots on the feathers 
 
 of certain breeds. 
 
 Squirrel Tail — A tail that is carried too 
 
 much over the back. 
 Tail Coverts— The short feathers at the 
 
 sides of the tail. 
 Vulture Hocks — Hard feathers attached to 
 
 the hocks. 
 
 Wing Bar — The dark lines across the wings 
 of certain breeds. 
 
 Wing Bow — The top part of the wing. 
 
 Wing Butts — The end of the wing. 
 
 Beard— A tuft of feathers under the bill 
 of a chicken, or the tuft of course 
 hair projecting from the upper part of 
 the mature male turkey. 
 
 Cape— The short feathers on the upper 
 part of the body underneath the neck 
 hackle. 
 
 Carnucles— The small fleshy pertuberancet 
 on the head of a turkey. 
 
 Chick— The young of the domestic fowl 
 before their sex can be determined. 
 
 Disqualification — A defect according to the 
 Standard of Perfection which -nakes a 
 bird unworthy of a prize. The com- 
 mon disqualifications arc: lack of size or 
 weight in the large breeds; character- 
 istics which indicate crossing to gain 
 size or color; deformaties in any part 
 of the body; missing feathers or artific- 
 ial tampering with the natural condit- 
 ion of the bird. 
 
 Parti-colored — Plumage which has two or 
 more colors. 
 
 Rose Comb — A low comb, flat on top and 
 covered with small pertuberances, term- 
 inating in a spike behind. 
 
 Self-colored — Consisting of one color of 
 plumage only throughout. 
 
 Serrations— The points of a single comb. 
 
 Under-color — The color of the downy 
 portion of the feather. 
 
 V-Shaped Comb — Having two well de- 
 fined horn like spikes. 
 
 Wry-tail- Having a tail twisted or posit- 
 ively turned to one side. 
 
Light Brahmas. 
 
 
 Black Langshans 
 
 8 
 
Chapter 1. Varieties of Fowls 
 
 Throughout this book I have shown 
 illustrations of some of the leading 
 varieties of fowls reared in this coun- 
 try. This will help to designate the 
 various breeds, but the pictures can 
 only show the general outline and 
 give only a suggestion of the color so 
 I will try to give a word description 
 which will help to make the selection 
 of the various breeds easier. 
 
 The pure-bred fowl to pass the poul- 
 try judge and gain a prize must con- 
 form to certain shapes and carry 
 plumage of specific color or colors. 
 "The American Standard of Perfec- 
 tion" published by the American Poul- 
 try Association and for sale at any 
 poultry journal office or book store 
 gives specific details about these re- 
 quired shapes and colors. But it will 
 not be out of place to give here some 
 explanation of their classification and 
 some historical facts about the breeds 
 which the "Standard" does not at- 
 tempt. 
 
 Our domestic poultry is divided in- 
 to two classes: Land-fowl and Water- 
 fowl. The land-fowl comprise Chick- 
 ens, Turkeys and Guinea Fowl. The 
 water-fowl are the Ducks and Geese. 
 
 Chickens may be divided into 
 three great divisions: 1st, those which 
 tend to grow large and produce meat, 
 as the Asiatic; 2nd, those which have 
 as their strongest characteristic the 
 tendency to produce eggs, as the Leg- 
 horn; and, 3rd, those which do not 
 grow so large as the Asiatics, and yet 
 have a goodly amount of meat and at 
 the same time approach the Leghorns 
 in their egg-producing tendency, as 
 the American variety. 
 
 It seems a strange coincidence that 
 while these three classes can be dis- 
 tinguished by their size as, 1st, large; 
 2nd, small; and 3rd, medium; they 
 can also be determined by the size 
 
 and shape of their tails. The Asiatic 
 has a small and spreading tail, the 
 Leghorn has a long tail, and the Ame- 
 rican a medium tail. 
 
 A.— ASIATIC. 
 
 COCHINS. — Large, deep-bodied, 
 massive birds, well-furnished with 
 long, fluffy feathers which enable 
 them to withstand climatic changes. 
 They endure confinement well, sel- 
 dom flying over a three-foot fence. 
 Cochii.s are considered inferior to 
 Brahmas, both regarding egg-produc- 
 tion and meat-growing quajities. Their 
 sedate movements and beautiful plum- 
 age have gained for them many ad- 
 mirers. The standard weights are — 
 cock, 11 lbs.; cockerel, 9 lbs.; hen, 
 81/2 lbs.; pullet, 7 lbs. 
 
 BUFF COCHINS.— Color— a rich, 
 deep, clear, buff or golden tan, uni- 
 form in both male and female. In 
 breeding practice, however, we find 
 few specimens which do not have 
 either black or white in wing or tail 
 feathers. Of course, this is undesir- 
 able, but as buff is a made color — it 
 seems as soon as we breed out the 
 black the white comes in — therefore 
 birds intended to breed exhibition 
 stock should be selected with great 
 care. 
 
 PARTRIDGE COCHINS.— While of 
 the same weight as the Buif, the Part- 
 ridge are usually smaller in size and 
 lower down in carriage. The males 
 are similar in color to the Black Red 
 Game or Brown Leghorn. The neck 
 and back is a golden red, and the 
 breast and under parts a glossy, 
 greenish black. The neck feathers of 
 the female are a golden yellow striped 
 with black, and the rest of the body 
 feathers are brown with two strips of 
 black running through each feather 
 parallel with its outer edge. 
 
Buff Cochins 
 
 WHITE COCHINS have pure white 
 plumage. BLACK COCHINS have 
 pure greenish blaclv plumage. 
 
 BR AH MAS are our largest variety 
 of poultry — they lay large brown eggs, 
 are good sitters, and do well in con- 
 finement. The standard weights are — 
 cock, i2 lbs.; cockerel, 10 lbs.; hen, 
 91/2 lbs.; pullet, 8 lbs. 
 
 LIGHT BRAHMAS are mostly 
 white in color as seen in the cut, some 
 of the f-eathers are laced with black, 
 and in addition the flight feathers are 
 black striped with white. It is a sin- 
 gular fact, and illustrates a defect in 
 our poultry knowledge, that while 
 every one looks upon the Brahma as a 
 meat breed, one breeder at least has 
 developed a Light-Brahma egg-laying 
 strain that has eclipsed th-e Leghorn 
 fowl, although the specimens I have 
 seen of this breed were undersize and 
 otherwise deficient in characteristic 
 make-up. 
 
 DARK BRAHMA.— These are simi- 
 lar to the Partridge Cochin in color, 
 except where the latter male is gold 
 and red, the Dark Brahma is silver, 
 and the female instead of having 
 brown and black striped feathers has 
 silver and black striped feathers. 
 Otherwise they conform to the Brah- 
 ma description in shape and char- 
 acteristics. 
 
 LANGSHANS.— A large, hardy 
 fowl; good winter layers of dark brown 
 eggs, with a purplish tinge; sitters, 
 and full feathered, although the feath- 
 ers are not as long and fluffy as the 
 Brahma or Cochin. Standard weights 
 are — cock, 10 lbs.; cockerel, 8 lbs.; 
 hen, 7 lbs.; pullet, 6 lbs. 
 
 BLACK LANGSHANS conform to 
 the above characteristics, and both 
 male and female, when in good condi- 
 tion, have a beautiful bottle-green 
 plumag>e. Their white skin and dark 
 shanks are against them in American 
 markets. 
 
Single Comb White Leghorns. 
 
 Rose Comb White Leghorns. 
 
 11 
 
Single Comb 
 
 WHITE LANGSHANS are not kept 
 in any great numbers in America, and 
 for some reason are not popular. It 
 would appear, however, " that they 
 have been used in developing the 
 white varieties of poultry, especially 
 where size is a consideration. 
 
 B.— EUROPEAN. 
 
 I believe I was the first to name this 
 one class of poultry. It is well known 
 that practically all th-e varieties of 
 poultry originated and developed in 
 Europe have the egg-laying tendency 
 as a predominating characteristic, and 
 therefore why not make a general 
 class of these? And, if there are any 
 varieties that do not fit this class let 
 us put them where they belong, even 
 though it disturbs some of our old- 
 time-honored usages. I hold the Eur- 
 opean as a class which includes those 
 varieties which have as a predominat- 
 ing characteristic the tendency to 
 produce a large number of eggs. They 
 are generally non-sitters, are small in 
 size, and have large, well-developed 
 combs and tails, and are active and 
 good foragers. 
 
 ^i i^\—~ — 
 
 Buff Leghorns. 
 
 LEGHORNS are a typical example 
 of the European class. They lay a 
 white-shelled egg, and seem to thrive 
 under ordinary care. The Standard 
 does not require any specific weight, 
 but lately th-e tendency has been to in- 
 crease the size. Whether the egg-yield 
 will increase with the size is a doubt- 
 ful question, but size does increase 
 the value of the Leghorn as a table 
 fowl. 
 
 BROWN LEGHORNS are both sin- 
 gle and rose combed. In color the 
 plumage of the male is similar to the 
 Black Red Games and Partridge Coch- 
 in. The hackle and saddle feathers 
 are yellow with a black stripe down 
 the center of each feather. The lower 
 half of the flight feathers are bay; 
 the wing fronts black; the back and 
 wing bows bright red; the wing cov- 
 erts a greenish black forming a black 
 bar across the wing; the breast and 
 tail a brilliant greenish black. The 
 female has hackle yellow with a black 
 stripe down the center of each feath- 
 er; back and wings are brown, pen- 
 
Single Comb Brown Leghorns 
 
 ciled with a darker brown; the breast 
 rich salmon; tail dull black except 
 two top feathers which are penciled 
 with brown. 
 
 WHITE LEGHORNS are both sin- 
 gle and rose combed and both male 
 and female are pure white in plum- 
 age. 
 
 BLACK LEGHORNS.— Male and 
 female both have pure greenish black 
 plumage and come with single comb 
 only. 
 
 BUFF LEGHORNS are buff 
 throughout like the Buff Cochins and 
 are single comb only. 
 
 SILVER DUCKWING AND RED 
 PYLE LEGHORNS are now coming in- 
 to favor. In plumage they are similar 
 to the Game varieties of the same 
 name and single combed only. 
 
 MINORCAS are a larger fowl than 
 the Leghorns, although their general 
 characteristics are similar. They lay 
 a larger white egg, are non-sitters, 
 and have standard weights as follows: 
 
 Cock, 9 lbs.; cockerel, 7% lbs.; hen, 
 714 lbs.; pullet, 61/2 lbs. These weights 
 apply only to the single-comb blacks. 
 The rose-comb blacks and single-comb 
 white aro allowed one pound less for 
 each specimen. Minorcas are only of 
 two kinds, white and black, the white 
 being a pure white throughout, and 
 the black a greenish black. 
 
 SPANISH are known only in one 
 color as the White-Faced BlackT so 
 named because of the peculiar growth 
 of white in the flesh forming the face. 
 In other respects they are similar to 
 the Single-Comb Black Minorcas. The 
 Standard weights are — Cock, 8 lbs.; 
 cockerel 6i^ lbs.; hen, 6% lbs.; pul- 
 let, 5% lbs. As chicks they seem to 
 be delicate, but when a few months 
 old they ar^^ hardy, generally speaking 
 they require more careful attention 
 than the Leghorns. They have long 
 been a favorite fowl in Europe, espe- 
 cially in England. 
 
 13 
 
Blue Andalusians. 
 
 Silver Spangled Hamburgs. 
 
BLUE ANDALUSIANS are another 
 variety conforming to our description 
 of the European class, and in many 
 respects resembling the Minorcas. In 
 fact, some have declared they have 
 been produced by the blending of color 
 of the White and Black Minorca. They 
 are a slaty blue throughout in plum- 
 age, and have standard weights as 
 follows: Cock, 6 lbs.; cockerel, 5 lbs.; 
 hen, 5 lbs.; pullet, 4 lbs. 
 
 ANCONAS are another European 
 variety, with a propensity for egg- 
 production. The American Standard 
 requires a shape the same as the Leg- 
 horn, but English descriptions and 
 breeders favor the Minorca type of 
 bird. The plumage is a greenish 
 ground color, each feather being tip- 
 ped and splashed with white. This 
 gives the bird a beautiful mottled ef- 
 fect which is very striking. 
 
 Barred Plymouth Rocks. 
 
 POLISH, formerly called Polands 
 on account of their "polled" or crested 
 character, have been found in South 
 Russia, where they were famous for 
 their egg-production. They have not 
 met with much favor in America be- 
 cause few of us know how to handle 
 them successfully. They have a small 
 V-shaped comb, and right back of the 
 comb a regular crysanthemum clump 
 of feathers called a crest. During the 
 
 breeding season these crest feathers 
 should he clipped closely so the bird 
 can see its enemies. It is also claimed 
 the eggs are more fertile when the 
 crest is clipped. In color there are 
 several varieties: White Crested 
 Black, Bearded Golden (the bearded 
 have a clump of feather instead of 
 wattles). Bearded Silver, Bearded 
 White, Buff Laced, Non-Bearded Gold- 
 en, Non-Bearded Silver, and Non- 
 Bearded White. 
 
White Plymouth Rocks. 
 
 THE DUTCH OR HAMBURG are 
 kept chiefly for their egg-producing 
 tendencies. They are not as hardy as 
 the Leghorn, are non-sitters, and lay 
 a white-shelled egg. In color they 
 are found as Gold-en Spangled, Silver 
 Spangled, Golden Penciled, Silver Pen- 
 ciled, White and Black. The spangles 
 are formed by a V-shaped black spot 
 on the end of each feather, and the 
 penciling is formed by a finely pen- 
 ciled bar across each feather. 
 
 ENGLISH RED CAPS are classi- 
 fied by the American Standard in the 
 English class, but they belong, I be- 
 lieve, with the other European varie- 
 ties. They are similar to the Golden 
 Spangled Hamburg, only larger and 
 coarser and instead of having a V- 
 shaped tip on the feathers the black 
 tip is moon-shaped. 
 
 The French have three varieties 
 
 of fowl which are recognized in the 
 American Standard: The Houdan, the 
 Crevecoeurs and the La Fleche. The 
 Houdan belongs to our European class 
 and is a good, practical fowl, although 
 having a cr^st similar to the Polish 
 prevents it from gaining favor among 
 farmers, as a crested fowl can be 
 caught easily by its enemies. They 
 lay a white-shelled egg, are non-sit- 
 ters, and their feathers are black and 
 white mottled. Standard weights: 
 Cock, 7 lbs.; cockerel, 6 lbs.; hen. 6 
 lbs.; pullets, 5 lbs. 
 
 The Crevecoeurs and La Fleche 
 both show Polish origin, the latter 
 have some appearance of Spanish in 
 their make-up, so they properly belong 
 to the European class. They are very 
 rare in America and have lost favor in 
 France, having been driven out by 
 more profitable varieties. 
 
 16 
 
White Wyandottes. 
 
 C— AMERICAN. 
 
 This variety is the crowning glory 
 of American poultry men and are our 
 great utility fowl. They have been 
 called American because they were 
 originated h'ere by crossing certain 
 fowls which were quite numerous 
 years ago and which have been devel- 
 oped into what are now known as 
 Dominiques, with certain other varie- 
 ties. The exact crosses have not been 
 recorded, and if they were they would 
 be useless because no one would care 
 to start all over again. 
 
 These varieties in the American 
 class are, par excellence, farmer's 
 fowls. They are hardy, quick-grow- 
 ing, good layers, good sitters and moth- 
 ers, have flesh of rich yellow color and 
 
 good flavor, and are a fair, average 
 size. The meat is not of as fine tex- 
 ture as the Cochin, nor as fine flavor 
 as the Game. While they have not as 
 much reputation as the Leghorns for 
 egg production, yet in several con- 
 tests in which Leghorns and other 
 varieties were competing, American 
 class birds have come off with first 
 honors. 
 
 PLYMOUTH ROCKS were the first 
 variety to gain favor. They lay a 
 brown-shelled egg and Standard 
 weights are: Cock, 9% lbs.; cockerel, 
 8 lbs.; hen, 71/2 lbs.; pullet, 6V2 lbs. 
 The legs and toes are free from feath- 
 ering and the flesh is a rich yellow. 
 In color they are four kinds — Barred, 
 White, Buff and Silver Penciled. 
 
ri:dt^4--*4 
 
 Buff Wyandottes. 
 
 II 
 
 Silver Laced Wyandotte. 
 
 18 
 
Columbian Wyandottes. 
 
 WYANDOTTES are smaller than 
 the Plymouth Rock and Standard 
 weights are less: Cock, 8i/^ lbs.; 
 cockerel, 7% lbs.; hen, 6V2 lbs.; pul- 
 let, 51/^ lbs. In color we have Silver 
 Laced. Each feather has a center of 
 white and an edging of black. The 
 back of the male is silver. Golden 
 Laced in which the center of feather 
 is golden red with black edging and 
 top color of male is golden. White, 
 Buff and Black are solid color through- 
 out in both male and female. The 
 Partridge is similar to the Partridge 
 Cochins and Silver Penciled similar to 
 the Dark Brahma, and the Columbian 
 similar to the Light Brahma. 
 
 THE JAVAS are a fairly hardy 
 variety resembling the Plymouth 
 Rocks in general characteristics, and 
 have the same standard weights. They 
 are very rare and are found now only 
 in two colors, Blacks and Mottled. 
 The former being a greenish black 
 throughout, the latter mottled Black 
 and White. Years ago there was a 
 White Java, but they are no longer 
 recognized by the Standard. 
 
 THE DOMINIQUES were at one 
 time a very popular breed, but have 
 be^en superseded by the Plymoutn 
 
 Rocks which resemble them in color 
 and which are of larger size. 
 
 THE RHODE ISLAND REDS are 
 one of the newer admissions to the 
 Standard, although they have been 
 bred in Rhode Island for a number of 
 years. They have a rich, deep-red 
 plumage with neck hackle tipped with 
 black, and black in wing flights and 
 tail. The flesh is finer grained than 
 the Plymouth Rocks and of richer 
 flavor, showing the Game character- 
 istics. They lay a good sized brown- 
 shelled egg, and are splendid sitters 
 and mothers. Their hardiness, quick- 
 ness of growth, the texture of their 
 meat, their egg production and their 
 brilliant rad plumage have brought 
 this variety rapidly to the front and 
 by many are claimed to be the best 
 utility fowl we have. The Standard 
 weights are — Cock, 81^ lbs.; cockerel, 
 71/2 lbs. hen, 61/2 lbs.; pullet, 5 lbs. 
 There are two varieties, single comb 
 and rose comb. 
 
 The Standard recognies another 
 variety known as Buckeyes, which are 
 very similar to the Rhode Island Reds. 
 
 The above classification has in- 
 cluded all the Standard varieties of 
 poultry except th-e Orpingtons, Dork- 
 ings, Games and Bantams. 
 
Single Comb Rhode Island Reds 
 
 Rose Comb Rhode Island Reds. 
 
 20 
 
Buff Orpingtons 
 
 THE ORPINGTONS, although orig- 
 inated in England, would come under 
 our description of the American class. 
 They are a cross-bred fowl, and their 
 purity consists in their being bred for 
 several years without an out-cross 
 which fact is true also of all the Amer- 
 ican classes. 
 
 THE DORKING is the English- 
 man's table-fowl, and has been bred 
 as such for many years. If they had 
 been bred and encouraged in egg- 
 production, instead of putting on flesh 
 and fat, they would be easily classified 
 with the European varieties, as they 
 have the general appearance of the 
 Leghorn. Perhaps we can do no bet- 
 ter than to say that they are an Eur- 
 opean variety developed for table pur- 
 poses. 
 
 There are three kinds of Dorkings, 
 White Dorkings with white plumage, 
 rose-combed and red ear-lobes. Their 
 standard weights are — Cocks, IVz 
 lbs.; cockerel, 6% lbs.; hen, 6 lbs.; 
 pullet, 5 lbs. 
 
 Silver Grey Dorkings are some- 
 what similar in color to the Dark 
 Brahma. The male has silver colored 
 hankie, wing, bays and bows and sad- 
 dle feathers; the breast, fluff and 
 tail are greenish black. The female 
 has a silver hackle striped with black, 
 the general surface color of back, 
 wings and fluff is gray or silver stip- 
 pled with black, the breast is salmon 
 colored and the tail is black ticked 
 with grey. The standard weights are: 
 Cock, 8 lbs.; Cockerel, 7 lbs.; hen, 
 &V2 lbs.; and Pullet, 51/2 lbs. 
 
 Colored Dorkings. — The Colored 
 Dorking male is similar in color to the 
 Silver Gray male, but the feathers on 
 breast and tail are splashed with buff 
 or white. The female instead of being 
 gray is a brownish black shade, strip- 
 ed with yellow, caused by the light 
 shaft color of each feather. Colored 
 Dorkings are the heaviest of all dork- 
 ings. Cock weighs 9 lbs.; cockerel, 
 8 lbs; hen, 7 lbs.; pullet, 6 lbs. 
 
White Orpingtons. 
 
 Red Pyle Games 
 
 22 
 
GAMES. 
 
 This leaves us with only the Games 
 to account for, and it is not surpris- 
 ing that they are in a class by them- 
 selves, as they are the connecting link 
 between the wild fowl of the jungle 
 and all our domestics kinds of poul- 
 try. In fact, they are the only pure- 
 bred fowls we have; all others have, 
 within the memory of man, been 
 crossed with some other variety 
 of fowl for some specific purpose. 
 Games are as delicate as young tur- 
 keys until about ten weeks old and 
 then they are as hardy as any kind of 
 fowl. Their meat also resembles tur- 
 key meat in flavor and texture. 
 
 The PIT GAMES are used for 
 cock-fighting purposes which is unlaw- 
 ful in certain states. They are simi- 
 lar in plumage to the Exhibition and 
 are also found in many other colors, 
 which have been obtained by crossing. 
 
 THE MALAY is similar to the 
 Black Red, only more coarse and 
 stouter built. 
 
 THE INDIAN GAME is a hardy 
 fowl raised especially for table pur- 
 poses. They are not generally liked 
 because they are such poor layers. 
 They are found in two colors — the 
 Cornish and the White. The former 
 are black with red stripes in the 
 feathers and the latter are pure white. 
 
 Japanese Bantams 
 
 Game Bantams. 
 
 Sebright Bantams, 
 
 But it is not essential to dwell here 
 upon this interesting subject. It is 
 suflBcient to say that the Game is a 
 fancier's fowl and, while its great ser- 
 vice has been to put color on many 
 various breeds and texture and flavor 
 in the meat, it has not gained favor 
 because the "Standard" requires a 
 fowl which is artificial and therefore 
 unprofitable to produce for commer- 
 cial purposes. They are found in five 
 families: The Exhibition, the Pit, the 
 Malay, the Cornish, Indian, and the 
 Black Sumatra. 
 
 THE EXHIBITION GAME is a tall, 
 stilty, crane-like appearing bird, hav- 
 ing a walk like a turkey. The stand- 
 ard colors are Black Breasted Red, 
 Brown Red, Golden Duckwing, Silver 
 Duckwing, Red Pyle, White, Black, 
 and Birchen. There is no standard 
 weight required. 
 
 The BLACK SUMATRA games are 
 similar to Cornish Indian only pure 
 black in plumage. 
 
 As Bantams are, strictly speaking, 
 a fancy fowl, I will not take space to 
 
 say much about them here. They are 
 the miniature of the large fowl and 
 nearly every variety of large fowl 
 have their representative among ban- 
 tams. The bantam should weigh only 
 one-fifth the weight of its large fore- 
 runner. They have the advantage 
 over the large fowls in that they can 
 be kept in smaller quarters and do 
 not require so much food. 
 
 With so many varieties of fowls, 
 fulfilling specific requirements it 
 seems folly for poultry men to place 
 any dependence upon mongred fowls. 
 Poultry fanciers have spent years in 
 developing a pure-bred fowl with cer- 
 tain characteristics and it is a law of 
 breeding that, only when you are 
 breeding closely related animals, are 
 you likely to g>et progeny in which the 
 characteristics of the parents are in- 
 tensified. Therefore, by cross-breed- 
 ing the work of years is liable to be 
 lost and the tendency of cross-bred 
 fowls seem to be revert to the original 
 ancestors which were small speci- 
 mens, producing only a couple of 
 dozen eggs per annum. 
 
 23 
 
Chapter II. 
 Characteristics of Fowls. 
 
 Successful poultry keeping depends 
 primarily upon an accurate knowledge 
 of fowls. 
 
 It is not enough to know that poul- 
 try require a house to protect them 
 from, the weather, feed and water. 
 There is much more to be learned 
 about our domesticated fowls which 
 will be found useful in forcing them 
 to yield a profit. 
 
 All of our fowls belong to what the 
 zoologist calls the Aves or bird fam- 
 ily and poultry writers divide them 
 into two groups: Land and Water 
 Fowl. 
 
 Of the Land fowls tlae chicken or 
 Gallus family is by far the most com- 
 mon and the following varieties have 
 been named as belonging to this fam- 
 ily: (1) Bankiva or Farrugineus; (2) 
 Sonnerat; (3) Stanley; (4) Furcatus 
 or Various; (5) Temminck; and (6) 
 Aenfus. But, Dr. H. P. Clarke, who 
 has made a close study of poultry 
 and who has visited the native haunts 
 of these wild varieties, tells me that 
 there are some other wild kinds 
 which should be added to this list. 
 He names the Black Sumatra which 
 are found in the Island of Sumatra in 
 a wild state and which are quite sim- 
 iliar to the Black Sumatra Games as 
 we know them in a domesticated state 
 and which I have described in a pre- 
 ceeding chapter. He also adds the 
 Laboeo or Labuyu found in the Island 
 of Minanao in the Phillipines; and 
 the Chichalque, found in the Isthmus 
 of Tehuantepec. 
 
 All of these birds in their native 
 haunts are described as being hardy, 
 great foragers living on bugs, seeds 
 and fruits, fig'hting for supremacy and 
 roosting in trees. 
 
 In addition to these varieties of the 
 gallus family there are the Meleagris 
 family from which we get our turkeys 
 and guinea fowls; the Phasianus or 
 Pheasant family: the Pavo or Pea 
 Fowl; and the Columba family from 
 which we get our pigeons and the 
 Rhea or Ostrich family. 
 
 The Water fowls really all belong 
 to the Anatidae or Duck family. 
 
 which includes the sub-varieties 
 Anserinae or Geese and the Cygninae 
 or Swans. 
 
 The history of our domestic fowls 
 is so shrouded with mystery that it 
 is difficult to trace the exact steps in 
 the domestication of any variety; and 
 even those who have introduced 
 some of the very recent breeds of 
 fowls have purposely or unwittingly 
 kept the exact matings or method of 
 production a secret. 
 
 But there is abundant evidence 
 that our domestic fowls belong to 
 these wild kinds which I have enum- 
 erated. They have been bred to- 
 gether successfully and this is con- 
 sidered by zoologists as the true test 
 for determining a species of animals. 
 
 While all birds of the genus gallus 
 will breed with domesticated fowls 
 there has been more difficulty in 
 crossing some of the varieties than 
 others and as the Bankiva cross the 
 most easily it is assumed that they are 
 the real progenitors of our extensive 
 family of chickens. 
 
 Now let us examine a fowl a little 
 m.ore closely. 
 
 A fowl is a two winged, two footed 
 animal covered with feathers. The 
 feet of the land fowl terminate in 
 three long toes with claws and with 
 only a little "web" between the toes; 
 and one or two lateral toes. The wa- 
 ter-fowl have only three forward toes 
 and these are completely joined to 
 each other by a "web" which makes 
 of the foot a splendid paddle for pro- 
 pulsion in the water. Land and water 
 fowl differ also in the character of 
 their plumage. The land fowl's feath- 
 ers are more fluffy near the quill than 
 the water fowl, while the latter is fur- 
 nished with auxiliary small feathers 
 or "down" which is almost impervious 
 to water. 
 
 Between land and water fowl there 
 is another difference, namely: the 
 beak or mouth. In the chicken this is 
 pointed for picking, pulling and tear- 
 ing the food. In the water fowl the 
 
beak is broad and long and is suitable 
 for swallowing minnows and small wa- 
 ter animals. 
 
 Internally the anatomy of both 
 kinds of fowls are much the same. 
 The food first passes into a crop 
 where it remains until thoroughly 
 moistened with the water the fowl 
 drinks and the secretions. The feed 
 then passes to a gizzard where it is 
 ground and prepared for digestion and 
 assimilation in the intestines, from 
 which the fibrous and mineral matter 
 is voided. 
 
 Fowls also have a respiratory or 
 breathing system; a circulatory sys- 
 tem, with a heart; a urinary system 
 with a gall-bladder which secretes a 
 urine of whitish color which is voided 
 through the intestines; and a genera- 
 tive system in which the embryo eggs 
 or "yolks" form in grape-shaped clus- 
 ters which, in the process of develop- 
 ment, are dropped, from time to time, 
 into the egg-canal where they are cov- 
 ered with the "white," the inner fibrus 
 shell and the outer mineral shell. 
 This egg canal is about 21 inches long 
 and these three coverings are se- 
 creted consecutively around the 
 "yolk" during its movement along this 
 canal. 
 
 Fowls also have a nervous system 
 which starts from a brain in the skull 
 but this is very small and their rea- 
 soning powers are the smallest of 
 any animal. In fact, a chicken has 
 been known to live with the top of its 
 head "chopped off." Such a bird was 
 once on exhibition in our town. 
 
 There is a greater difference than 
 the average person would think in 
 the requirements of even the various 
 kinds of land fowl and it is only those 
 who learn to distinguish these dif- 
 ferences as well as to discriminate 
 between the appearance of a fowl in 
 health or disease who can really ex- 
 pect to have the greatest success and 
 obtain the greatest profits. 
 
 As these things are important I will 
 take a little space to mention some of 
 the points of difference which, I hope, 
 will be help to the student of poultry 
 keeping to develop this faculty of 
 close observation. 
 
 Let me illustrate this point by ex- 
 plaining some of the differences be- 
 tween chickens and pigeons. 
 
 In chickens the males are polygam- 
 ous, that is, one male will mate with 
 several females, while with pigeons 
 the males are monygamous; or, in 
 other words they mate in pairs and a 
 pair once properly mated will usually 
 remain true to each other during 
 their lifetime or until one or the other 
 might get sick, when the well bird 
 might mate with another of the oppo- 
 site sex which did not have a mate. 
 Pig'eons and chickens also differ in 
 their care of their young. A pair of 
 pigeons will only lay two eggs, the 
 male and female take turns in sitting 
 on them to incubate them and when 
 the young are hatched, nature has 
 provided that the parent pigeons crop 
 at hatching time will secrete a "milk" 
 which they transfer to their young at 
 "feeding" time. There is no such ar- 
 rangement in the incubation of a 
 chicken and the process of rearing is 
 entirely different as I will explain in 
 the chapter on caring for little 
 chicks. 
 
 In poultry, as compared with four- 
 footed animals, there are some strik- 
 ing differences. Their bones are 
 much thinner and smaller in propor- 
 tion to the amount of flesh, which is 
 made possible by the more rounding 
 shape of the body. The lungs are 
 placed directly under the back bone 
 and in the wild birds the air which is 
 breathed is not confined to the lungs, 
 but passes throug*h and penetrates a 
 number of membraneous cells and in 
 some cases even extending to the 
 pinions, bones of the thighs and other 
 parts of the body. From this it will 
 be seen that the amount of air taken 
 into the breathing system of a bird 
 varies considerably and seems to ac- 
 commodate itself to the surrounding 
 circumstances. 
 
 Under domestication, of course, 
 this characteristic is greatly modi- 
 fied; but, it seems to me that many 
 of our poultry authorities in the past 
 have failed to consider this great lung 
 capacity of a bird. In fact it is only 
 recently that open air houses have 
 been found to be a great improve- 
 ment over the former closely built 
 house, and, no doubt, this breathing 
 capacity of a fowl is the specific rea- 
 son for this improvement — it allows 
 a greater development of this lung 
 function. 
 
 Another great difference between 
 birds and mammals is the formation 
 of the eye. A i-ird or fowl's eye is 
 
 25 
 
furnished with two membranes — an 
 external and an internal — in addition 
 to the usual membranes found in the 
 eyes of niamals. These extra mem- 
 branes affords the fowl great focus- 
 sing power so that a bird can see far- 
 ther and see also more minute par- 
 ticles than any other animal. This 
 accounts for two things which every 
 poultry keeper has often observed but 
 which may have been more or less 
 of a mystery. First the peculiar ac- 
 tion of a fowl when it sees a large 
 bird flying at a great distance over 
 head. There is no doubt that this is 
 caused by the bird's eye being fo- 
 cussed upon the ground looking for 
 minute particles sees the bird over- 
 head many times larger than it really 
 is and thus is filled with fear at the 
 unusual sight. Secondly, this ^reat 
 magnifying power enables the fowl 
 to see the minute particles of food 
 many of which are invisible to the 
 naked eye. 
 
 While a bird's breathing power, 
 sense of atmospheric conditions and 
 eyesight are greater than man's its 
 reasoning power is much less. In 
 fact a chicken is perhaps the most 
 senseless animal which we have. 
 When allowed to roam naturally they 
 will return to their home at night 
 with considerable regularity, and pre- 
 cision; but try to chase them home or 
 "flusterate" them in any way and you 
 have a task on your hands — they do 
 not seem to have sense enough to go 
 through a hole in the fence. Thus 
 they are greatly dependent upon the 
 care of their keeper. 
 
 Under domestication there has been 
 change in these various kinds of 
 fowls. This change, however, has 
 been greater among the varieties of 
 chickens than any of the other. They 
 have responded more readily to 
 man's care and manipulation. In 
 fact all of the other kinds of fowls are 
 today almost identical with their wild 
 progenitors, excepting, perhaps, pig- 
 eons, which have been modified large- 
 ly as to shape and color. But, when 
 pigeons are allowed to breed indis- 
 criminately they soon revert to the 
 original type — the Blue Rock Dove. 
 
 With chickens man's efforts have 
 been to increase size and egg pro- 
 duction and the progress along these 
 two lines has been really marvelous, 
 especially when their will progenitors 
 only produce a couple of dozen eggs 
 per year and weighed only about four 
 
 and one-half pounds. Whereas there 
 are many flocks in this country to- 
 day which have an average egg pro- 
 duction of over fifteen dozen per an- 
 num and specimens which weigh 11 
 and 12 pounds each, as described in a 
 previous chapter. 
 
 Just what factor has played the 
 most important part in this develop- 
 ment has not been determined and is 
 now the object of the poultry investi- 
 gators most careful study. 
 
 Probably the greatest factor has 
 been selection. By selecting the best 
 birds, the largest and best layers, 
 and using them in the (breeding pens 
 we have gradually developed our 
 fowls to a high degree of productive 
 power. Naturalists tell us that prog- 
 ress is made in two ways: by inheri- 
 tance and care in the development of 
 the offspring. Or, in other words, a 
 character which has developed in an 
 animal, even though it was not appa- 
 rent in its parent, is likely to be 
 transmitted to its offspring. It is for 
 this reason that close attention and 
 great care should be given to the sub- 
 ject of care and feeding of fowls, for 
 fowls which have been developed by 
 careful attention will quickly degener- 
 ate when favorable attention is with- 
 drawn. 
 
 Our knowledge of these things 
 leads to the formulation of some gen- 
 eral rules which should be studied 
 and observed. 
 
 1. The land fowl should be made 
 to "scratch" or "pick" or "tear' 'its 
 feed. 
 
 2. It should be kept dry. 
 
 3. Its feed must consist of animal, 
 vegetable and mineral matter with 
 sufficient water to moisten it. 
 
 4. Its reasoning powers being small 
 man must assist by placing proper 
 feeds before it. 
 
 The water-fowl should have access 
 to running water. I know this is an 
 opposition opinion to what a famous 
 duck raiser says, but water fowls for 
 breeding purposes will thrive best 
 when they have free access to run- 
 ning water. 
 
 All varieties of poultry will incu- 
 bate their own eggs; although some 
 of the European varieties do not "sit" 
 until they are 3 or 4 years old. 
 
 Chicken eggs hatch in 21 days, 
 Turkeys and Ducks in 28 days, and 
 geese in about 30 days. 
 
 4 
 
Chapter III. Poultry House. 
 
 The next thing to consider is the 
 poultry house. Before deciding upon 
 the style of house it is essential to 
 decide upon the object or purpose of 
 keeping poultry; whether for eggs, 
 broilers, roasters o^- fancy. 
 
 In settling this question the loca- 
 tion of the farm in reference to a 
 good market is important. A farm 
 near Boston or New York will do well 
 producing broilers and eggs; while 
 west of Chicago most of the farmers 
 depend upon eggs and shipping adult 
 birds. 
 
 It is difficult to decide for another 
 which is the most profitable end of 
 this business, and each must study his 
 local market to determine what poul- 
 try product will sell best, and arrange 
 his plant accordingly. 
 
 Regardless of the plan decided up- 
 on a laying-house will be necessary, 
 and I will undertake to give some ex- 
 amples of such houses which experi- 
 ence has found to be satisfactory and 
 profitable. 
 
 There are two kinds used for this 
 purpose, (1), the long, continuous 
 house divided into a number of apart- 
 ments or pens; and (2), the detached 
 house or colony system as it is called. 
 Both have their champions and ad- 
 vantages. The long, continuous house 
 is the handiest and saves steps, espe- 
 cially in winter time; but if disease 
 once gets started in such a house 
 nearly every fowl throughout the 
 house will catch it. The continuous 
 house requires less lumber, and there- 
 fore costs less, which no doubt is an 
 important reason for its existence. 
 
 The nature of the fowl and practice 
 has shown that chickens cannot thrive 
 in damp or draughty quarters. So in 
 building we should plan to make a dry 
 and draftless house. To make a dry 
 house requires a good roof, and good 
 drainage below. 
 
 It is better to have a cold, dry 
 house than a warm, damp house. The 
 warmer the air the more moisture it 
 
 will hold. When this moist air comea 
 in contact with a cold surface, con- 
 densation takes place which is often 
 converted into hoar frost. The rem- 
 edy, therefore, is to remove the mois- 
 ture, as far as possible, by first cut- 
 ting off the water from below which 
 comes up from the soil. The water- 
 table is the same under the hen-house 
 as it is out-doors, hence the necessity 
 of having the floor-level inside the 
 house higher than surrounding 
 ground-level, as shown in illustration, 
 
 ««:5? 
 
 _?AND 05 S>>NOj_ L 
 
 Fig I. Foundation Plan. 
 
 Fig. 1. Epecially is this necessary if 
 the floor is of dirt. In filling in, if 
 small stones or gravel are used for the 
 bottom layer and a covering of clay 
 for a floor, it will be much drier than 
 if earth alone is used. 
 
 Personally, I favor a board floor, as 
 it permits of thorough cleansing and 
 scrubbing with a disinfectant which is 
 necessary should disease get a start. A 
 board floor can be made comfortable 
 and satisfactory if the foundation is 
 built tightly of brick to extend a foot 
 or more above the ground surface. 
 The foundation below the natural 
 ground surface can be constructed 
 cheaply of concrete, using the stones 
 from the field or roadside. Common 
 scantling will do for sleepers, and by 
 making a trap-door in the center and 
 letting a terrier dog down below for 
 an hour or so occasionally rats will 
 be kept away, if they' ever do get in 
 
 A cement fioor has been recom- 
 mended, but it is usually cold, and in 
 
 27 
 
wet weather absorbs moisture and re- 
 mains damp. If used, it will have to 
 be kept covered with plenty of straw 
 or similar scratching material. 
 
 There is an advantage in having 
 the poultry house face the south be- 
 cause our severest storms come from 
 the north and a south window receives 
 more sunlight. The location of the 
 windows can be determined by study- 
 ing Fig. 2 which shows the position of 
 the sun as determined by Cornell Uni- 
 v>Brsity. The size of the windows 
 should be carefully considered. Too 
 much glass makes a house too cold at 
 night and too warm during the day 
 because glass is a good conductor of 
 
 "place: thc 
 
 \A/INOOWS HIGH 
 
 Fig 2. Showing the Elevation of the 
 Sun at different Seasons. 
 
 temperature. The rule is about 1 
 square foot of glass to 16 square feet 
 of floor space. 
 
 To overcome dampness in a house 
 an experiment was tried as follows: 
 The windows of three different rooms 
 in a long poultry house were arranged 
 as shown in Fig. 3. In No. 1 the win- 
 dows were left closed; in No. 2, the 
 top sash was dropped the length of 
 one light and a curtain set in the place 
 and in No. 3 the sash was dropped 
 from the top and raised from the bot- 
 tom, curtains being placed over the 
 openings. During a winter room No. 
 3 was practically dry whereas in No. 
 1 there was much moisture and it al- 
 ways seemed "chilly." No. 3 was also 
 found to be about 6 degrees warmer 
 than No. 1. 
 
 A splendid form of poultry house 
 is shown in Fig. 4 where there is a 
 comfortable tight room for the cold- 
 est weather and an open front scratch- 
 ing sheds for bright days and warm 
 weather. 
 
 Another plan is illustrated in de- 
 
 tail in Figs. 5 and 6, which makes a 
 splendid house for winter layers. This 
 house has a feed room 12x20 in the 
 middle, and on either side of that a 
 wing 60 feet long divided into five 
 pens 12 feet wide. The divisions are 
 solid as far as they go — from the back 
 to within three feet of the front. This 
 space between the divisions and the 
 front is left open, and the birds can 
 run freely from one pen to another. 
 In each house 360 to 400 birds are 
 kept. This house is 20 feet deep, but 
 I think 16 feet sufficient and, by put- 
 ting the roosts as far from the front as 
 possible, it will be noticed in the illus- 
 tration, that this plan gives a large 
 
 
 ■->l,^.\^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mo I 
 
 NoZ 
 
 Fig 3. Showing Different Arrange- 
 ments for Windows. 
 
 area in which there is no draught 
 whatever. A drop curtain in front of 
 the roosts can be used, but has not 
 been found necessary in New: York 
 state climate. 
 
 Each 12-foot pen has three full win- 
 dows with twelve 8x10 lights. The 
 top sash is hinged and is swung out 
 except on windy days. 
 
 Along the bottom there is a space 
 below tne two outside windows cov- 
 ered with shutters on the outside, and 
 wire screens on the inside, one of 
 which is also covered with unbleached 
 muslin. The wire screens keep the 
 birds in the house when the runW|ay 
 is closed. The runway to the yards is 
 placed below the middle window, and 
 this is kept closed in bad weather. On 
 very windy days the shutters are kept 
 closed, with the exception of the 
 spaces covered with th-e unbleached 
 muslin. During all other days both 
 shutters are kept open, but are closed 
 at night during cold weather.' ' 
 
 Here is a "secret" or plan which 
 will make money for some. We have 
 

 ^ 
 
 
 ==1 
 
 ^.=====^ 
 
 f~~ 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 ^F^t 
 
 Feed Trouqh, 
 
 
 Partition between Pens Port itio" bet w?en Shtdi Tront of Scrotchmg Shed Bocl^of Rooiting Room. 
 
 Fig 4. Showing Successful, Continuous Curtain Front Scratching 
 Shed Poultry House. 
 
 been told of a farmer in England who 
 had a pasture of 20 acres back of his 
 barn, into which he turned his work- 
 horses summer nights. In this pas- 
 ture h-e put five colony houses with 50 
 hens in each. He fed them until they 
 became accustomed to their quarters, 
 after which they ^vere not fed any- 
 thing and only fresh water was given 
 them. They laid an abundance of 
 eggs, and the horses did not seem to 
 mind them; in fact, after this plan 
 was carried on for several years the 
 horses seemed to go into the vicinity 
 of the houses to eat grass, and more 
 horses could be pastured than before 
 this plan was adopted. 
 
 The colony house takes many 
 forms to suit every fancy and is built 
 of a great variety of materials, from 
 rough boards, piano-boxes, paper, can- 
 vas covered, etc. 
 
 In one of the poultry papers for 
 March, 1907, Mr. Tolman described a 
 house used by him, which has since 
 been called the Tolman "fresh air 
 house". We give a view of the house 
 as described and a plan of the floor. 
 
 The usual dimipfensions are 8x14 
 feet, with eaves 4 feet in front, 5 feet 
 
 in back, and 7 feet at highest point 
 over the door. The front being low 
 keeps out sunlight, but this is over- 
 come by a door in the east and win- 
 dows in the west which allows the 
 early morning and afternoon sun to 
 enter the building. The front of the 
 house is enclosed with two-inch wire- 
 mesh only. The roof and sides ai>e 
 of one-inch board, nailed to 2x4 inch 
 studdings and rafters, then covered 
 with sheathing paper and prepared 
 roofing. In summer doors and win- 
 dows are removed and frames covered 
 with one-inch wire-netting used in 
 their stead. The wire door could 
 be attached on the outside like a 
 screen door. The working of this 
 house has been described as follows: 
 "The front of the fresh-air house 
 is never closed. The roosts in the 
 rear of the building being above the 
 level of the bottom of the front plate 
 (or eaves) insures the fowls against 
 exposure to any winds which may 
 blow in at the open front. They are 
 protected at all times from drafts by 
 the tight back sides and roof. The 
 peak of the roof coming in just in 
 front of the roosts insures a banking 
 
Fig 5. Side View of a Successful Poultry House. 
 
 Fig 6. Floor and Front Plans of 
 House Shown. 
 
 up of the warm air, (the warmth pro- 
 duced by the fowls themselves) in 
 such a manner that the part of the 
 house occupied by the fowls is the 
 warmest place in the building, and 
 this on the coldest nights in winter. 
 It should be remembered that this 
 warm air, while it retains the heat, 
 also has an opportunity to lose the 
 
 Fig 8. Plan of Talman House. 
 
 impurities exhaled by the fowls, as 
 it is a well known fact that while heat 
 rises impure air does not rise but 
 sinks to the bottom; the foul air that 
 is dangerous to breathe will always 
 be found nearest the door in a tight 
 building. In a fresh-air house the 
 
Fig. 9. 
 
 End Plan of a Canadian 
 Poultry House. 
 
 open front prevents any accumulation 
 of foul air near the floor. One has 
 only to go into a house of this type 
 to have this fact practically demon- 
 strated to him. He will find the house 
 comfortable and warm, warmer than 
 a shed-roofed type of building at the 
 roost level." 
 
 The essential interior furnishings 
 of a hen house is a roosting place, a 
 nest box, a feed hopper, a water foun- 
 tain and a dust bath. The best forms 
 for these articles will be further de- 
 scribed and better understood under 
 th-e chapters on Care and Feeding. 
 
 Fig 10. Floor Plan of Successful Canadian Poultry House. See Fig 9. 
 
 \ 
 
Chapter IV. Feeds. 
 
 To understand animal feeding 
 properly we must stop and study the 
 various Feeds. This may be dry read- 
 ing but it will pay and no one will ever 
 get the best results from poultry un- 
 til he or she thoroughly understands 
 this part of the subject. 
 
 In Feeds there are three principal 
 nutritive elements: Protein, composed 
 of the protids, carbohydrates, fats, ash 
 and fiber. 
 
 (1) Protein is the albuminous or 
 nitrogenous matter; in grains it is 
 known as gluten, in meat and blood 
 it is known as fibrin, and in milk ca- 
 sein. It is nourishing food and sup- 
 plies material for muscle, blood, bone 
 and eggs. 
 
 (2) Carbohydrates are the sugars 
 and gums in which carbon and hydro- 
 gen are the principal elements. They 
 form the bulk of nearly all foods, and 
 as digestion is a slow process of burn- 
 ing it is obvious that carbon or coal 
 matter and hydrogen-gas are the prin- 
 cipal sources of heat and energy. 
 
 (3) Fats or oils are found in prac- 
 tically all foods, and in digestion work 
 with the carbonhydrates, in furnish- 
 ing heat and energy. As fat is used 
 directly in digestion its value in food 
 is two and one-fourth times as great 
 as the same percentage of carbo- 
 hydrates. 
 
 In addition to the above, there are 
 some minor food elements, as follows: 
 
 (4) All feeds contain some lime 
 and other mineral matters in small 
 quantities called the ash, and in poul- 
 try feeding ash is useful to furnish 
 material for egg-shells and feathers. 
 
 (5) Fiber which is found is husks 
 and waste matter. It has no particu- 
 lar nourishing value, but is essential 
 in giving the food a proper bulk, pre- 
 venting it from packing so tightly that 
 the digestive juices cannot reach it. 
 The Department of Agriculture at 
 Washington, D. C, publishes a bulletin 
 Feeding Farm Animals, which gives a 
 table of analysis feeding stuffs. 
 
 From these tables it will be seen 
 
 that the foods have what is called a 
 heat or potential energy. In the ta- 
 ble the nutritive value of field corn 
 is given as 1:7.9 that is one part of 
 protein to seven and nine-tenth of 
 carbohydrates and fat; and has a po- 
 tential value of one hundred and six. 
 
 It has been calculated that when 
 food has one part of protein to about 
 five of carbohydrates and fat (or 1:5 
 as it is usually written) it is called a 
 balance or a balanced ration. 
 
 Wheat is an ideal grain for poultry 
 and is the bread and butter of the 
 poultry household. It will be seen 
 from the table that its nutritive value 
 is 1:6.3 and this is a good average ra- 
 tion for laying hens. 
 
 Corn has a food ration of 1:7.9, 
 which is considerably higher in carbo- 
 hydrates, or heat and energy produc- 
 ing substances. It has several advan- 
 tages; it is sometimes cheaper, and 
 if the fowls are kept active by having 
 to hunt in straw or litter for finely 
 cracked corn they seem to thrive and 
 do well on it. It is a splendid food on 
 cold nights, and no matter how much 
 a fowl has eaten it will run after more 
 corn. Corn, then, is a "candy" for 
 poultry. Corn-meal is useful in mash, 
 and if hay or green food is unobtain- 
 able, bulk may be added to the mash 
 by grinding some of the cobs. 
 
 Wheat-bran is used considerably in 
 all mashes of ground grain. In the 
 patent process of milling, it varies 
 considerably, some containing a very 
 small percentage of flour. Bran is use- 
 ful in fowl constipation, as it acts as 
 an irritant to the bowels. Middlings 
 and shorts are useful, although their 
 quality varies as does bran. They 
 make the mash sticky, or doughy, so 
 should not be used in large quantities. 
 
 Oats have a feed ration of 1:6.1 
 which is about the same as wheat, 
 which makes them a splendid sum- 
 mer feed and are found commercialy 
 as hulled oats, ground oats and oat- 
 meal. The U. S. tables state that oats 
 contain about twice the percentage of 
 
 32 
 
ash as corn or wheat. This ash makes 
 this grain, of great valu-e to use as a 
 food for growing stoclv, as the ash 
 tends to strengthen the bones, and 
 this gives a good frame work for the 
 fowls. Oats also may be "sprouted" 
 as explained in the chapter on feeding. 
 
 Barley has a nutritive ratio about 
 the same as wheat, but has more ash 
 or bone-forming substances. Chickens 
 do not like it, which is, no doubt, due 
 to the hulls. They seem to enjoy 
 hulled barley 
 
 Rye, although about th-e same com- 
 position as wheat, is not generally fed 
 to poultry in America. It is used con- 
 siderably in England. Rye seems to 
 physic some fowls, which is perhaps 
 the reason some feeders do not like 
 it. But rye-bran or rye-flour would be 
 a valuable addition to the mash. 
 
 Buckwheat is fed considerably 
 where it can be purchased cheaply. It 
 has a food-value about the same as 
 corn, but its shape makes it difficult 
 for poultry to pick it up, hence it is 
 more readily eaten if fed on straw or 
 soft earth. 
 
 Millet seed is rich in flesh-form- 
 ing materials, or protein, but also has 
 a large amount of fiber which causes 
 troubl-e in little chicks, if fed exclu- 
 sively. It is a good grain to mix in 
 mashes. 
 
 Kaffir corn has about the same 
 food value as field corn, but is valu- 
 able because it requires the fowl to 
 pick oftener to get the same quantity 
 of grain. 
 
 Hemp seed is especially rich in 
 carbohydrates, and is useful in toning 
 up birds for exhibition, as it puts a 
 fine gloss on the feathers. 
 
 Canary seed is used considerably 
 by Bantam breeders as it tends to 
 keep the birds small. 
 
 Linseed meal and cotton-seed meal 
 are very rich in oil, and where fed in 
 the mash act as a lubricant in the di- 
 gestive system and also improve the 
 plumage. 
 
 Sunflower seed is especially rich in 
 oil, and is said to be a good egg-stim- 
 ulant, and puts a good, healthy gloss 
 on feathers. 
 
 Meat foods are necessary and use- 
 ful, especially to stimulate egg pro- 
 
 duction, and consist of the following: 
 
 Green bone, ground or cut by ma- 
 chinery. The great difficulty with this 
 food is that it is so rich that many 
 over-feed with it. It should be mixed 
 with corn-cobs or clover hay, or other 
 bulky foods which will distend the 
 crop and allow proper digestion. 
 
 Raw, lean beef also is too concen- 
 trated, and is usually too expensive, 
 although it is a great egg-stimulant. 
 
 Fish scraps and fish intestines are 
 fed to poultry on the sea coasts. While 
 they have high nutritious value, they 
 impart a fishy odor to the eggs. 
 
 Beef scraps or dried blood manu- 
 factured by our packing houses are 
 perhaps the best and most economical 
 source of protein. They can be obtain- 
 ed quite generally ,and are in such a 
 shape as to be readily mixed in the 
 mash. 
 
 Those who are fortunate enough to 
 live near a city where they can obtain 
 stale bread from hotels or restaurants 
 can thus secure a very good food for 
 poultry. A mixed lot will give great 
 variety, and some poultrymen use no 
 other mash food. Soaked in warm 
 water and thickened with corn-meal 
 or bran, with a little beef scraps add- 
 ed, makes it a very good mash. 
 
 Cracker crumbs are also very good, 
 and the soda in them is often useful to 
 correct intestinal troubles. 
 
 Eggs are a good, but rather rich 
 and concentrated food. 
 
 Vegetables are valuable in feeding 
 fowls, especially in winter when they 
 supply the green grass elements, and 
 nearly all are relished by fowls. 
 
 Potatoes are rich in carbonaceous 
 matter, and are best when boiled. 
 
 Onions have a tonic effect, and 
 when fed raw tend to give their odor 
 to the fiesh and eggs, therefore they 
 should be boiled. When boiled, as 
 much as five pounds to one hundred 
 hens may be fed daily without caus- 
 ing any trouble. 
 
 Cabbage makes a splendid winter 
 green food and is useful to furnish ex- 
 ercise by making it necessary for the 
 fowls to pick it. 
 
 Beets, mangels, turnips and car- 
 rots are likewise best fed raw and 
 
placed wh«re the fowls can pick at 
 them. 
 
 GRASS AND HAY — It is surprising 
 how much grass a fowl will eat in 
 summer, and when fowls are allowed 
 to run on the grass in summer the 
 eggs seem to come in greater num- 
 bers. Just why this is so has never 
 been fully determined, but the green 
 pigment in grass also seems to inten- 
 sify the color in tbe yolk of the eggs, 
 making it richer looking. 
 
 Of hay, the clover is the best. Al- 
 falfa, which is of the same family as 
 the red clover, has many friends. I 
 have noticed, however, that alfalfa is 
 not relished by fowls like red clover, 
 and believe this is due to the bitter 
 taste which it has. Both alfalfa and 
 red clover are rich in protein, and 
 make splendid foods. When ground 
 to a meal they can be mixed with the 
 mash. Some makers of alfalfa meal 
 are mixing molasses with it, and this, 
 no doubt, overcomes the bitter taste. 
 Molasses of itself has splendid food 
 and tonic qualities. 
 
 Milk in all forms — sweet, sour, but- 
 termilk, curds or whey — is good for 
 fowls. It can be given to drink or 
 used to moisten the mash. When milk 
 is used for this purpose it will not be 
 necessary to use as much grain as 
 when water is used. 
 
 Few fully appreciate the real 
 value of fresh skimmed milk, espe- 
 cially that obtainable from a separa- 
 tor before it loses its animal heat. It 
 has great bone and flesh growing prop- 
 erties; in fact ,the Percheron horse 
 owes much of its size and fine qual- 
 ities to the sweet skim-milk fed to 
 the colts. 
 
 All poultry supply houses now 
 carry grit for poultry. In the Cen- 
 tral Western States where the sur- 
 face soil is a black loam, grit is indis- 
 pensable and must be furnished to 
 supply the gizzard with grinding ma- 
 terial and also furnish the silica to 
 
 produce feathers. Commercial grit 
 contains silica, magnesia, sulphur and 
 lime. 
 
 Oyster Shell — Some use this in 
 place of grit, but as it is composed 
 mostly of lime, grit has some advan- 
 tages over it. 
 
 Dry bone is useful for the phos- 
 phates it contains, but is not used as 
 much now as formerly, due largely to 
 the increased use of green bone. 
 
 Charcoal is almost pure carbon, 
 and is useful as an aid to digestion 
 and as a blood purifier. 
 
 We have spoken of certain feeds as 
 tonics and stimulants and, of course, 
 it is understood that these are only 
 mild, and in no way injurious. On 
 the market, however, there are for 
 sale condimental foods known as con- 
 dition powders, etc. In a commercial 
 poultry plant these all have a place. 
 Our own foods without salt or pepper 
 would taste flat, and would soon nau- 
 seate us; in fact, we could not live 
 without salt, and it is required by all 
 animals in greater or less quantities. 
 Of course, we do not recommend con- 
 dition powders to fowls which are do- 
 ing well without them. But during 
 changeable weather, in spring, fall and 
 winter,.and during the molting season, 
 fowls will do better if fed a good con- 
 dition powder in the mash food. 
 
 It is surprising how much grass a 
 fowl will eat in summer, and when 
 fowls are allowed to run on the grass 
 in summer the eggs seem to come in 
 greater numbers. Just why this is so 
 has never been fully determined, but 
 the green pigment in grass also seems 
 to intensify the color in the yolk of 
 the eggs, making it richer looking. 
 
 These various feeding stuffs are 
 given here for reference. In practice 
 it is unnecessary to use all of them 
 although I am a strong believer in the 
 theory that variety has many advant- 
 ages for fowls as well as the human 
 family. 
 
Chapter V. Feeding Secrets. 
 
 As various kinds of poultry at dif- 
 ferent seasons require varying foods, 
 it will be seen that to feed success- 
 fully a flock of chickens is no child's 
 play, but requires the greatest care, 
 observation and good judgment. 
 
 The rules for feeding are almost as 
 numerous as the poultry feeders — 
 some thinking only of the fowls, and 
 others thinking only of their own con- 
 venience. 
 
 It Is apparent from what I have 
 said that fowls having extensive 
 range require a different course of 
 feeding than those in limited quar- 
 ters. The form*er will do well with 
 plenty of drinking water and very lit- 
 tle grain, while the latter require 
 green stuff as well as mash, -w-ater, 
 grit and grains. 
 
 Successful feeders are like artists 
 — the best are born, not made. Suc- 
 cessful feeding is an art which, while 
 based on the science of foods, re- 
 quires long practice before one mas- 
 ters all the details, so that the eye 
 knows whether the food is too rich 
 or is given in too great quantities. 
 
 Of course, when a careful egg rec- 
 ord is kept, and when the fowls are 
 weighed occasionally, these matters 
 can be determined accurately. But 
 this involves considerable labor, and 
 in these days the labor costs. 
 
 There are, however, four things to 
 observe: 
 
 The Fowl, 
 
 The Feed or Feed-Box, 
 The Dropping Board, 
 The Egg Yield. 
 
 The healthy fowl has an appear- 
 ance of its own which everyone should 
 know, or get some poultryman to point 
 out. It is active, alert, "skeery," runs 
 at the appearance of strangers, etc., 
 the comb is red and the appetite rav- 
 enous. The fowl that hustles the 
 hardest and goes to roost last with a 
 full crop is the producer. There are 
 very few exceptions to this rule. 
 
 THE FEED OR FEED-BOX.— The 
 
 successful poultryman does not throw 
 down so many measures of feed and 
 pass on. He pauses a moment or two 
 and notices the eagerness with which 
 the fowls partake of their food and 
 later goes through the pens again to 
 see whether all of it has been eaten 
 up. 
 
 Watch the dropping board, it is the 
 secret of proper care and will reveal 
 the physical condition of the fowl. 
 Normally the droppings should be 
 firm, grayish black mass, terminating 
 on top with a light grayish substance 
 which is the secretion of the gall- 
 bladder. If the droppings are soft and 
 of a yellowish or brownish color, it 
 indicates too much carbohydrates or 
 lack of meat. Too much meat will 
 produce droppings that are watery, 
 with dark red splashes of mucus. A 
 greenish, watery diarrhea usually in- 
 dicates unsanitary conditions in the 
 surroundings, the feed, or the water. 
 
 The successful poultry raiser, also 
 studies carefully any fowl that is 
 killed for the table. By examining 
 the crop and gizzard of such fowls 
 much can be learned concerning the 
 general condition of the flock. The 
 quantity of fat around the intestines 
 will show whether there is too much 
 fat forming matter in the feed. In 
 considering this it must be remem- 
 bered that some individual specimens 
 in a flock will have more of a fat form- 
 ing tendancy than others and this 
 tendancy is always strongest in the 
 fall months. 
 
 Recent investigations show that 
 many hens have diseased egg produc- 
 ing organs and cannot lay. Some have 
 placed this average as high as 15 per- 
 cent. It is known also that pulleta 
 that suffer from roup or other serious 
 poultry disease are slow in recovering 
 the egg producing faculty. To get the 
 best results you must have pullets 
 that have been properly raised and 
 
that are strong, healthy, vigorous 
 "rustlers." 
 
 Of late years much has been writ- 
 ten about hopper feeding. The styles 
 of hoppers are too numerous to men- 
 tion. There is no question but that 
 they are useful for feeding little 
 chicks especially in a brooder as they 
 are likely to get hungry at a time 
 when no attendant is near. For adult 
 fowls they save labor, but as the egg 
 production depends upon activity I 
 prefer to make the fowls get practical- 
 ly all their food by scratching for it 
 
 in the natural method. On the other 
 hand, for fattening or growing fowls 
 I approve of hopper feeding. 
 
 Cooked foods have some advant- 
 ages. FoAvls do well on vegetables 
 and table scraps. They like potatoes, 
 turnips and carrots but cannot break 
 them very well, hence such vegetables 
 should b^^ cooked and fed in the mash. 
 1 do not like to feed hot foods in cold 
 weather, it makes fowls "mope" 
 around which is opposed to the great- 
 est egg production. 
 
 Silver Pencilled Wyandottes. 
 
Chapter YI. Feeding for Eggs in Winter 
 
 Fresh eggs in winter are a delicacy 
 and as I write the newspapers an- 
 nounce that such eggs are bringing 
 considerably more than "storage" eggs. 
 American hens have never produced 
 enough eggs to supply the demand 
 and every year importations are made 
 from Canada. It is quite evident that 
 if all eggs could be stamped to indi- 
 cate their freshness the demand would 
 be greatly increased. 
 
 The secret for getting winter eggs 
 is proper stock, feed them the proper 
 elements and make them "scratch." 
 
 The proper stock will consist of 
 April hatched pullets and yearling 
 hens, in good health. There is a dif- 
 ference of opinion as to the variety 
 but to me it is not so much variety 
 as it is proper care. 
 
 In winter I prefer giving a moist 
 mash feed for first meal as it is 
 ground and being moist passes quickly 
 into the gizzard. Do not feed too 
 much. Let the hens be hungry enough 
 to scratch for additional grains. The 
 mash feed formulas differ with differ- 
 ent localities and accessabl-e grains. 
 The following are two good ones: 
 
 Good wheat 200 lbs.; cornmeal 100 
 lbs; middlings ,100 lbs; gluten meal. 
 100 lbs; linseed meal, 100 lbs; beef 
 scraps, 100 lbs; to which may be add- 
 ed 5 lbs ground charcoal and 5 pei 
 cent, sand or grit. 
 
 Another formula is 2 parts corn- 
 meal, 2 parts wheat middlings, 2 parts 
 beef scraps, 1 part wheat bran, 1 part 
 alfalfa meal. Remember its the happy 
 hustling hen that "scratches" that 
 lays the egg. 
 
 About noon I feed the grains in the 
 litter. I like to get as great a variety 
 as possible as I think variety causes 
 the hens to do more hunting. The 
 first time over they will not get all 
 and will keep at it. I prefer cracked 
 to whole corn because it makes the 
 hen pick oftener to get sufficient food. 
 In extremely cold weather I like to 
 
 throw them some whole corn just be- 
 fore roosting time; but you must re- 
 member whole corn is a strong fat 
 producer and too much will produce 
 fat and not egg. Further, quick, light, 
 active hens can partake of more corn 
 without serious disturbance of egg 
 production than the large sluggish 
 fowls. 
 
 Of course, fresh water, grit, oyster 
 shell and a dust bath should be ac- 
 cessible at all times and be sure there 
 is no vermin in the pen. Chicken lice 
 is a great enemy to egg production. 
 
 The v/ater should not be hot nor 
 should it be allowed to freeze. 
 
 The dust bath is best when made 
 from road-dust and wood ashes, with 
 a little air-slacked lime and flour of 
 sulphur. 
 
 Green food must be supplied in 
 winter if the best results are to be ob- 
 tained. For this purpose a cabbage 
 suspended from the ceiling by 3 
 string, just high enough so the chick- 
 ens can reach it will do wonders, a 
 turnip or mangel cut in two length- 
 wise and nailed to the side of the 
 house will furnish good "green" food 
 also. 
 
 Sometimes I use sprouted "oats." 
 They are prepared by placing some 
 oats in a box having sides about 6 
 inches high and by moistening the 
 oats and keeping them in a tempera- 
 ture of 70 degrees F., they will sprout. 
 In about 7 days they will be fully 
 twice the size and much more relished 
 by the chickens than whole oats and 
 much more beneficial. By having sev- 
 en boxes a continuous daily supply can 
 be kept up. 
 
 The oats should be first soaked 
 over night in luke warm water then 
 spread in the boxes about two inches 
 deep and moistened daily. They should 
 be stirred daily until they start to 
 sprout after which moisten only. In 
 seven days the sprouts should be 
 about six inches long making a matted 
 
 S7 
 
mass which can be broken up and 
 scattered in the pen or mixeci in the 
 mash feed. Chickens will not hurt 
 themselves eating loo much of this 
 feed. 
 
 For a small flock a six inch flower 
 pot will do and seven of them are 
 
 not out of place on a kitchen window. 
 After emptying the growing pans 
 they should be washed thoroughly 
 with a disinfectant and dried or the 
 growing oats will develop a "mould" 
 which may prove injurious to the 
 fowls. 
 
 Chapter VII. Incubators. 
 
 With so many firms advertising 
 incubators it would seem unnecessary 
 to add anything but there ar-e some 
 differences in makes of incubators 
 and perhaps a suggestion or two may 
 not be out of place. 
 
 The incubator is a great aid where 
 fowls are to be raised in large num- 
 bers. I would sooner care for one in- 
 cubator than ten setting hens and 
 then, the incubator is ready when you 
 want it. It also enables you to have 
 early hatched chicks or late hatched 
 just as you prefer. It is a wonderful 
 help on a farm as the machines can 
 be started and chicks ready to go on 
 grass before the regular summer 
 farm work begins. 
 
 Those who have never used an in- 
 cubator cannot comprehend its ar- 
 vantages, and those who have used 
 one invariably tell me they would not 
 be without it. Of course, we must 
 recognize a diflierence in incubators 
 as found on the market today, and 
 they are not all perfect by any means. 
 But the best machines will, if proper 
 care is used and the directions fol- 
 lowed, hatch nearly as large a per- 
 centage of healthy chicks as the hen. 
 
 Let us pause for a moment and 
 study the egg. As found in the nest 
 the egg is an oval sphere larger at 
 one end than the other, and the out- 
 side covering or shell is made up of 
 prismatic particles, so arranged as to 
 leave pores between them. Upon 
 breaking the shell, we find a yolk sur- 
 rounded with a white semi-liquid. But 
 if an egg is incubated for a few days, 
 and then hard-boiled and cut in halves 
 
 lengthwise, much more will be re- 
 vealed. 
 
 The process of the development of 
 the chick has been described as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 "A few hours will enlarge the cen- 
 tral spot, w hich becomes oval with a 
 furrow down the center and blood- 
 veins appear around it. Then a dou- 
 ble membrane called 'amnion' appears, 
 which later entirely encloses the em- 
 bryo along with what is called the 
 'amniotin fluid.' 
 
 "By the second or third day the 
 tiny embryo enclosed in the amnion 
 can be clearly seen. A magnifying 
 glass Mill then reveal the eyes and 
 pulsation of the heart. At or soon aft- 
 er the third day another growth, call- 
 ed the allantois, begins to develop on 
 the digestive canal of the embryo, be- 
 tween the two coats amnion and at a 
 later period also encloses the embryo. 
 
 "By the fifth or sixth day the al- 
 lantois can be clearly seen as a bag 
 or sac protruding from the navel inde- 
 pendent of the yolk-sac. By this time 
 rudiments of the wings and legs can 
 be clearly seen as buds or small clubs 
 standing out from the surface of the 
 body which has grown a good deal. 
 
 "At the tenth or eleventh day signs 
 of the feathers can be distinguished, 
 and motion of the animal is often per- 
 ceptible when the egg is opened. 
 
 "Generally about the nineteenth 
 day the beak ruptures the membrane 
 which divides off the air-chamber, and 
 the chick for the first time breathes 
 air through the lungs, after wihich the 
 chick's blood gradually ceases to flow 
 
 38 
 
into the veins of tlie allantois, which 
 has completed its work and is no more 
 needed. 
 
 "Finally on the 21st day the chick 
 breaks its shell by the aid of a sharp- 
 pointed hard scale, especially provided 
 for the purpose at the tip of the upper 
 beak. 
 
 "During the process of develop- 
 ment the embryo has at first been ly- 
 ing as a small object on the upper 
 
 passes through the yolk-sac in this 
 process. 
 
 "Shortly before hatching, the en- 
 tire remaining nutritive material of 
 the egg is gathered within the con- 
 siderable shrunken yolk-sac, and dur- 
 ing the last fewi hours it is rapidly 
 drawn into the abdomen, where it fur- 
 nishes food for the newly-born chick 
 en during the first day of its indiffer 
 ent existence." 
 
 Prairie State Eddy-current Distributor and System of Ventilation. 
 
 Patented March 10, 1908. Patented 14, 1909. 
 A— Inlet pipe from heater, which discharges air into box or enclosure, P. 
 B— Metal radiators in the top of egg-chamber. 
 C— Cotton-batting filling between inside and outside cases. 
 D— Nursery. 
 E— Eggs. 
 
 H— Discharge outlet of the ventilating current of bottom of incubator. 
 K— One of four pipes to discharge air from the above level of the eggs in the egg-cham- 
 ber to false bottom underneath nursery. 
 
 M— Strawboard dead-air space insulation in bottom of incubator. 
 
 surface of the yolk; later on, as it in- 
 creases in size definitness of form, it 
 is clearly apparent that the neck of 
 the yolk-sac is in connection with the 
 umbilicus or navel. The material 
 needs for growth is therefore derived 
 primarily through the yolk; but as the 
 original yolk-mother is absorbed, it is 
 replaced by fresh material from the 
 albumen drawn through the delicate 
 membrane. The albumen forming 
 much of that of the chicken, but it 
 
 From the above it is obvious that 
 eggs intended for hatching should be 
 handled with care, or some of their 
 membranes will be destroyed. They 
 also should he turned occasionally so 
 that the yolk does not settle to one 
 side through the albumen or white 
 as it must be completely surrounded 
 by the white or it will not hatch. 
 
 There are two methods of hatching 
 — the hen and the incubator. 
 
 Let us first study the hen. If given 
 
an opportunity the hen will lay her 
 eggs away in some dark, secluded 
 spot, and sit on them. Such actions, 
 which are caused, it is said, by in- 
 stinct, show us what kind of a place 
 is best to set a hen in. The Ontario 
 Agriculture College has been conduct- 
 ing some experiments and studying 
 the process of incubation, and, while 
 their experiments have not gone far 
 enough to determine all they hope to 
 determine, they have shown that the 
 hen in the process of hatching, gives 
 off carbonic acid gas, and that the at- 
 mosphere under the hen is by the 
 process of condensation, saturated 
 with moisture a number of times each 
 day. It is therefore apparent that 
 a nest on the ground in the shade, 
 where it is nearly always moist, is 
 the place a hen will choose for her- 
 self, and is also an ideal place for 
 scientific reasons. We know there 
 are exceptions to this, as a hen's nest 
 in the hay-mow, but new hay contains 
 some moisture, and the aroma from 
 the hay is a gas and who knows but 
 what this gas plays an important part 
 in incubation? 
 
 Therefore, in setting a hen, choose 
 a shady room as near the ground as 
 possibl-e. I use a box about 16 inches 
 square and six inches deep. The in- 
 side of this is painted with carbolic 
 lice-killer; then I put some moist earth 
 in it, making it hollow; in the center, 
 and cover the earth with straw. 
 
 These boxes are set side by side 
 with tight-board partitions between 
 them, and several hens are set at one 
 time. If the hens are all from one 
 flock, and there are just as many 
 nests as hens, therj will not be much 
 trouble if a little care is exercised the 
 first da> or two to see that only one 
 hen gets on a nest. I always put the 
 
 sitting hens on the nests after dark. 
 
 I usually test the eggs the tenth 
 day and if there are any unfertile 
 ones, they are removed and the fertile 
 ones doubled up and some of the hens 
 are given a new lot of eggs. 
 
 Testing eggs easily can be done by 
 egg-testers, which are now offered for 
 sale. They are made of tin and shap- 
 ed like a lamp-chimney, with an open- 
 ing on one side just the shape of an 
 egg. By putting this chimney on a 
 lamp, and holding an egg to it in a 
 dark room, it -easiiy can be determined 
 whether the egg is fertile or not. If 
 fertile it will be dark except at one 
 end; if infertile it will be perfectly 
 clear. 
 
 When the chicks come they should 
 be left in the nest until they are 
 thoroughly dry. They should not be 
 fed until twenty-four or thirty-six 
 hours after they are hatched. I will 
 explain later about feeding them. 
 
 The incubator method is better un- 
 derstood from what we have said of 
 the hen. The machine, if it has been 
 used before should be washed out and 
 aired so it will be "sweet" and clear. 
 Every incubator manufacturer furnish- 
 es directions for operating the ma- 
 chine which should be followed close- 
 ly to get the best results. 
 
 Fresh air in th-e incubator room is 
 essential. 
 
 I cannot say which machine I 
 wx)uld purchase if I were getting a 
 new one as there are a number of 
 good makes on the market. My choice, 
 however, would be a hot air machine, 
 with moisture sand pans and the best 
 made machine possible. Because with 
 moisture within there is expansion 
 and contraction of the wood which, 
 unless the machine is well made, will 
 open the joints and let heat leak out. 
 
Chapter VIII. 
 Secrets for the care of little chicks. 
 
 The care of little chicks divides it- 
 self in two methods — the "biddy" or 
 hen method and the brooder or foster- 
 mother method Have you ever no- 
 ticed that 'when the chicks are only a 
 day old, if the old hen is lifted off 
 from them she will make a peculiar 
 noise and the little ones will huddle 
 down as close to the ground as pos- 
 sible. This indicates that th-ey have 
 already learned the mother call, and 
 with the old hen the care and feeding 
 is comparatively simple. I prefer leav- 
 ing the chicks in the nest until the 
 second day. 
 
 When taking the hen from the nest 
 I dust her with a good death-to-lice 
 powder and greese each chick on the 
 head and under each wing with head 
 lice ointment. 
 
 I prefer putting the hen in a coop 
 with a slat front so the hen can reach 
 out and teach the youngsters to pick 
 grass. I boil the infertile eggs and 
 use the yolks crumbled in oatmeal for 
 the first food, which is generally given 
 the first morning after the chicks are 
 hatched. By evening I give dry grain 
 cracked fine, which is sold almost 
 everywhere as chick food, and this 
 food is given exclusively for practic- 
 ally the first three weeks. There is 
 quite a difference in the quality of 
 these foods. They should contain 
 cracked wheat, hulled or cracked oats, 
 cracked corn, beef scraps, and grit. 
 Some use millet seed and kaffir corn 
 but a little of the millet seed goes a 
 long way and it is hard to digest. 
 
 The little chick must have good 
 care and attention until it gets its 
 first feathers and watch must be kept 
 to prevent chicken lice which are fatal 
 to the little fellows. 
 
 In the brooder the litter should be 
 cut clover or chaff so if the chick does 
 eat it, no harm will be done. When 
 about seven days old the brooder 
 chicks can be said to distinguish be- 
 
 tween feed and non-feed. 
 
 Do not over-feed little chicks is 
 the secret of success. As I have shown 
 the yolk has been absorbed into the 
 abdomen of the little chick and this 
 is sufficient to maintain life for sev- 
 eral days hence it is not necessary to 
 worry about the little chick starving 
 during this period. They should be 
 fed lightly four or five times a day. 
 Be sure the first feed contains some 
 grit or you will have indigestion. The 
 crop is the point to watch. When it 
 is full stop feeding. The last feed at 
 night should be the heaviest. 
 
 Do not feed too rich food. Green 
 bone should not be fed to brooder 
 chicks until after 10 days old. 
 
 Summing up, the care of brooder 
 chicks is divided into three periods. 
 
 First, a continuation of the period 
 of incubation, which lasts three or 
 four days, while the yolk is \yemg as- 
 similated. During this period the 
 chicks require as high temperature 
 as the incubator or about 100 degrees 
 Farenheit. 
 
 OIGHI Ltn 
 
 RIGHT LEFT 
 
 RIGHT (£FT 
 13 ^pk iS^ft. 
 
 This diagram shows 16 different ways of 
 toe making young fowls. 
 
 Second, the foolish or stupid per- 
 iod, before they fully learn to discrim- 
 inate between what they should or 
 should not eat, which lasts from seven 
 to ten days. During this period the 
 
 41 
 
brooder chick should not be given a 
 chance to -eat auything that is not 
 beneficial. A.t this time they will pick 
 at almost anything bright, such as a 
 tack, salt or grit. Of course, the lat- 
 ter will not hurt them — the others 
 will kill them. 
 
 Third, the selective period, or the 
 time after the chicks are from ten 
 days to four weeks old. From this 
 time food may be left before them all 
 the time, and if the food is before 
 them, they will select what is best, 
 and practically balance their rations. 
 At the end of this period, or at four 
 weeks old, they should be well covered 
 with their first feathers, and therefore 
 be able to protect themselves from 
 cold and sudden showers. If the 
 weather is favorable, they should then 
 be allowed as much run on grass as 
 possible. The young chick should have 
 feed of a small size proportionate to 
 itself. A number of poultry supply 
 houses carry such feeds ready mixed 
 and which also include grit. 
 
 Cracked wheat, 25 pounds; cracked 
 
 corn, 12 pounds; millet seed, 10 lbs.; 
 oatmeal (steel cut), 10 lbs.; kaffir 
 corn, 25 lbs.; rape, 3 lbs.; cracked 
 peas, 10 lbs.; cracked rice, 2 lbs.; 
 hemp seed, 2 lbs. Grit or beef scrap 
 are often added, but as more grit and 
 animal food is n>3eded in some places 
 than others, it is just as well to feed 
 them in hoppers with charcoal, and 
 let the chicks help themselves. 
 
 After chicks are six weeks old a 
 good scratching food will contain the 
 following: Whole wheat, 25 lbs.; 
 coarse cracked corn, 20 lbs.; millet 
 seed, 10 lbs.; oats, 25 lbs.; barley, 
 10 lbs.; kaffir corn, 25 lbs.; cracked 
 peas and buckwheat, 10 lbs. each, may 
 be added and a small quantity of sun- 
 flower seed is beneficial. 
 
 If it is desired to force the chick 
 for market the following makes a good 
 food: Corn-meal, 5 lbs.; bran, 2 lbs.; 
 beef scraps, 2 lbs.; middlings, 1 lb. 
 
 As the chicks get older the grains 
 used may be larger and at ten weeks 
 they can eat almost any of the whole 
 grains. 
 
 Type of portable colony house used in Prairie State Experimental Plant — 6 by 8 feet in size. Open front style. 
 Six feet high, four feet in rear, with drcpping-board two feet from the floor. Two roosts. Tight wooden partition 
 in front— two feet high — to protect chickens from wind. This house is practically of the open-front type, but owing 
 to the position of the glass sash and wooden awning, prevents storms and rain from blowing in and wetting the 
 straw, which is the great fault with the ordinary open front houses. Wet litter is undesirable scratching material. 
 This house may be used for laying birds for rearing young chicks in the summer-time and for a portable broodhouie 
 in the early spring when fitted with Universal Hovers. The peculiar construction makes it adaptable to almost all 
 sections of the country, both north and south. 
 
 42 
 
Chapter IX. Pure Bred Stock. 
 
 Pure-bred or Standard-bred poul- 
 try has advantages over common stock 
 for four purposes. It is more uniform 
 both alive and when dressed for mar- 
 ket. It has certain definite character- 
 istics and if all the qualities desired 
 are not found in one breed two breeds 
 can be kept. It grows more rapidly 
 on less food and the best specimens 
 can be sold at many times the market 
 value of such fowls. There is no ad- 
 vantage a cross-bred fowl has over 
 the average pure-bred fowl. Pure-bred 
 fowls, raised on range are generally as 
 hardy as any fowl could be. Of course, 
 there are many breeders who coddle 
 their fowls and consequently have 
 sick chickens, but if the poultry hous- 
 es we have described are used and a 
 balanced ration is fed, there should 
 be but little difficulty. 
 
 It naturally follows if pure-bred 
 fowls are kept, th-ey will be taken to 
 the fairs and poultry exhibitions. Any- 
 one desiring to do this, should get a 
 copy of the Standard of Perfection 
 which is for sale by all farm paper 
 and poultry journal publishers, and 
 study the requirements of your vari- 
 ety. If fowls are kept on grass runs, 
 they will be fit to showi almost any 
 time, but if there is no grass, white 
 fowls will have soiled plumage and 
 should be washed. This washing re- 
 quires three tubs of luke warm water; 
 one Mith suds to thoroughly soap the 
 fowl, and two for rinsing purposes, so 
 all the soap will be rinsed out of the 
 feathers. The fowl will have to be im- 
 mersed, leaving its head out of the 
 water, of course, and while the feath- 
 ers are damp, they can be scrubbed 
 with a sponge or soft brush until all 
 the dirt is removed. Ivory soap or 
 "Wool" soap is the best. When the 
 feathers are clean the fowl should be 
 rinsed in the othev tubs and placed 
 near a fire to drj. Be careful to keep 
 them on clean straw or they will get 
 their fathers soiled again. 
 
 The bird should be kept standing 
 hear a warm stove or over a hot-air 
 
 radiator. If it is a white bird some 
 indigo may be added to the last rins- 
 ing water, not quite as much as used 
 in the laundry (indigo does not con- 
 tain the acid whch is usually found in 
 ordinary liquid bluing). Breeders of 
 white birds also sprinkle their birds 
 with corn starch when it is nearly 
 dry which helps to dry the bird and 
 gives him a fluffy appearance. 
 
 At the winter shows a little butter 
 rubbed on the combs and face of the 
 fowl improves its appearance. Care 
 should be taken, however, not to use 
 too much. There is no law against 
 thus grooming the fowl and it is per- 
 fectly fair to do so. 
 
 Mating fowls for the purpose of 
 producing high-class pure-bred speci- 
 mens is an art which is difficult to 
 master and, really, it is never master- 
 ed, because no one has yet been able 
 to produce a specimen which has 
 scored one hundred points. But this 
 need not prevent us from trying to 
 do our best. 
 
 Prizes are won only by fowls which 
 conform to certain rules and descrip- 
 itons which are found in the Ameri- 
 can Standard of Perfection. The mak- 
 ers of these rules plan ideal descrip- 
 tions to please the committee's taste 
 in accordance with the specimens 
 found at our leading exhibitions. They 
 ask us to strive for certain character- 
 istics which are remotely possible 
 with the hope that perfection will be 
 obtained. 
 
 The problem which confronts th-e 
 pure-bred breeder is to take specimens 
 which are not perfection and attempt 
 to produce perfection. 
 
 There is a general rule in breeding 
 that "like producers like." This is 
 more generally true when the fowl 
 is like its ancester and strong in vital- 
 ity. The vigorous male is not difficult 
 to pick out; he is shy and when 
 caught will struggle to free himself, 
 he will crow often and lustily, his 
 comb will have a healthy red appear- 
 ance, his body will be broad and th-ere 
 
will be plenty of meat on the breast 
 bone; deficiency in any of these char- 
 acteristics indicates weakness. The 
 female is a little harder to determine 
 but the hen that scratches vigorously, 
 that "sings as she works" and has a 
 good healthy red comb is generally of 
 strong vitality. 
 
 LINE BREEDING. 
 
 The best method to follow is what 
 is known as "line-breeding" which is 
 best explained by referring to the at- 
 tached diagram. Fig. 2. Select six 
 or eight good yearling bens with typi- 
 cal shape and good color and let them 
 be represented by spot 1 and spot 2 
 represent a first class male especially 
 good in color. The progeny of this 
 pen will be spot 3 and if the females 
 were full sisters the youngsters would 
 be half the blood of each sex. 
 
 The second year we have three 
 pens if desired. No. 4 consisting of 
 the original females mated to a Cock- 
 erel from No. 3; No. 5, the original 
 male mated to pullets from No. 3, and 
 No. 3 which will consist of a cockerel 
 mated to the remaining pullets. These 
 matings will give progeny with blood 
 relations as indicated by fractions. Or 
 if you only have room for two pens, 
 a cockerel may be mated to the hens 
 and the cock to the pullets. If you 
 should happen to know the dam of 
 the cockerel, she may be left with the 
 cock. The offspring this year will be 
 a study and will give the breeder valu- 
 able lessons. He will see the tendency 
 of his flock. Some of the old hens 
 will have molted and the feathers will 
 have faded and appear off color. The 
 hen that has good standard color af- 
 ter moulting is the strong colored bird. 
 You will see by this time that your 
 flock is getting too dark or too light. 
 If the birds are any ?olor except white 
 perhaps some white feathers will have 
 shown themselves. Discard such 
 specimens in most breeds, especially 
 in the males. 
 
 As a general rule we look to the 
 .male for color and the female for 
 shape. 
 
 The illustration indicates the orig- 
 inal females may be bred to their own 
 sons for two generations and the third 
 season crossed with a cockerel from 
 
 No. 11 which is half the blood of the 
 females and which will give offspring 
 which is 11.16 the female blood. If 
 this plan is followed the next cross, 
 or four years from starting, you will 
 have both cockerels and pullets which 
 are 21.32 the female blood in pen No. 
 14, and 21.32 the male side in pen No. 
 18. In pen No. 16 you will have some 
 
 of both sexes that are half the blood 
 of the original male and half the blood 
 of the female. 
 
 Hence if you could have had four 
 pens each year, in five years you will 
 have a strain of your own. 
 
 It is assumed that each year you 
 have selected the best and discarded 
 all specimens that were mismarked 
 and disqualified. 
 
 If you have not the room for four 
 pens join with some neighbor in breed- 
 ing a standard variety and exchange 
 birds each year. 
 
 Another way and an economical 
 one, is to buy a setting of eggs or a 
 pen f fowls from a good breeder. I 
 believe most good breeders of pure- 
 bred poultry are honest men; in fact, 
 their whole success depends upon giv- 
 ing good value for their money. A 
 business like this that is built up 
 by advertising can be very easily 
 
Ifilled by a very few "kickers," hence 
 breeders must, in the great major- 
 ity of transactions, give a fair deal. 
 
 If you have pure-bred birds now 
 and wish to improve them, I would 
 recommend picking out ten or twelve 
 of the best females and puting them 
 in a pen by themselves; buy a first- 
 class mat-e to go with them, and use 
 their eggs to hatch the chickens in- 
 tended for breeders next fall. If the 
 hens were divided into two lots, the 
 male changed from one pen to the 
 other each day and the eggs from 
 each pen kept separate and hatched in 
 
 separate lots, no more males need be 
 procured, as a cockrel from one pen 
 could be mated to the h-ens of the 
 other and the old cock bird mated to 
 his best daughters. In this way a 
 strain of uniformly shaped birds could 
 be made in three or four years. 
 
 If, however, your females were not 
 of good shape and had any serious de- 
 fects, it would take a long time to pro- 
 duce high class exhibition specimens. 
 
 The first plan of buying as good 
 birds as your pocket book will permit 
 and building up a strain of your own 
 is the most satisfactory. 
 
 Chapter X. Marketing Fowls. 
 
 There is no subject of more im- 
 portance to poultry raisers than mar- 
 keting. Upon the poultryman's ability 
 in this direction depends the success 
 of many poultry plants, and there are 
 a few general rules that will apply to 
 the various cities located in different 
 parts of our country. It seems, how- 
 ever, that the citi-es of both the At- 
 lantic and Pacific States offer a better 
 market than our central state cities. 
 This being so makes It difficult to 
 treat this subject explicitly. It is 
 easier to see why a large city wit>l its 
 flat-dwellers is a better market than a 
 country village, and, therefore, all 
 large cities have a bett-er market and 
 pay higher prices than small towns. 
 
 Those who have studied the mar- 
 ket conditions for the past ten years 
 will have noticed a marked increase in 
 the demand and the tendency has been 
 for better quality, consequently the 
 prices are better. Experience proves 
 that anyone living within one hundred 
 miles of a large city, who has the de- 
 sire to raise high-class market poultry 
 or eggs easily could find a market for 
 them at profitable prices. There have 
 tteen only two drawbacks to this kind 
 of business. First, many have en- 
 gaged, or practically secured, a mar- 
 ket before going into the business, 
 and when they finally got their poul- 
 try plant in op-eration they failed ig- 
 nominously in accomplishing what 
 
 they had planned to do. The second 
 difficulty arises from poultrymen not 
 realizing the volume of the demand. 
 I have been told of one poultryman 
 who went to a large hotel to try to 
 sell broilers, and who thought he could 
 furnish one hundred per week. He 
 was surprised to find that in the broil- 
 er season that hotel would need at 
 least one hundred per day, and occa- 
 sionally they might have a banquet 
 when they would need three or four 
 hundred more. 
 
 MARKETING BROILERS.— Broil- 
 ers should be ready for the market at 
 about ten weeks old. The last week 
 they should be kept in close quarters 
 and given all the forcing mash and 
 cracked corn they will eat. Corn puts 
 fat directly under the skin, and in 
 markets calling for a yellow-skinned 
 fowl, this is a great advantage. Some 
 markets prefer them alive. When they 
 are to be killed they should be killed 
 by cutting the jugular vein inside the 
 mouth with a poultry-killing knife, 
 and dry picked. Leave shanks on and 
 do not draw them. You must study 
 what the people want and try to keep 
 the quality uniform. For this purpose 
 a standard breed of fowls has the ad- 
 vantage over a lot of mongrels, and 
 almost any of the American varieties 
 are useful for this purpose. 
 
 MARKETING ADULTS. — Here 
 again we must study the needs of 
 
This Illustration shows how to convert a shed into a fattening house. 
 
 purchasers, and unless fowls are to 
 be marketed In large quantities, it is 
 perhaps just as well to market them 
 alive. They can be improved materi- 
 ally by close housing and giving them 
 a liberal feed of whole corn, grit and 
 fresh water. Some have taken the 
 trouble to fatten the fowls. To ac- 
 complish this they are put in coops 
 and fed a mash in troughs. 
 
 The Iowa agricultural college re- 
 cently conducted an experiment along 
 this line as follows: Several dozen 
 Barred Plymouth Rocks cockerels 
 were purchased from the local pro- 
 duce man at 13 cents a pound. They 
 averag'ed 31/2 pounds. They were 
 placed in slatted crates 6i/^ feet long, 
 20 inches deep and 16 inches high, di- 
 vided into three compartments. Each 
 compartment held four birds. For 
 convenience, portable houses 8 by 12 
 feet, that held four crates, were used. 
 In practice any shed that affords shel- 
 ter and fresh air without drafts may 
 be used. The birds were fed in troughs 
 just in front of the crates. These 
 
 troughs were removable, so they 
 might be easily washed and cleaned. 
 
 The ration which gave the greatest 
 as well as the most economical gains 
 was made up of equal parts by weight 
 of corn meal, ground huller oats, 
 ground hulled barley and beef scrap. 
 To this was added twice its weight in 
 buttermilk. No water was given. The 
 same amount of well-soured milk in 
 place of the buttermilk gave nearly 
 equal results. This ration gave better 
 results when mixed and allowed to 
 stand 12 hours before feeding. The 
 birds were first starved 24 hours and 
 then fed twice daily as much as they 
 would clean up in 20 minutes. The 
 high art or secret of fattening poultry 
 seems to rest with the feeder's ability 
 to know when the fowls have had al- 
 most enough. When that time is 
 reached, the food should be removed 
 at once. It is better to underfeed a 
 trifle than to overfeed. If fowls are 
 overfed, they "go stale" and refuse to 
 eat well, and so fail to make good 
 gains. 
 
At the end of two weeks the birds 
 that had received the above ration 
 had gained more than 20 pounds to 
 the dozen. The cost a pound gain did 
 not in any case exceed 6 cents and 
 was generally nearer 5 cents. We 
 sold the birds to the same man we 
 bought them of at 15 cents a pound, 
 although the price for springs had 
 dropped half a cent. The difference 
 paid was because of improved quality. 
 In round numbers the profit over cost 
 of feed was 25 cents a bird. This was 
 made in a western town of about 4000 
 inhabitants and is a conservative fig- 
 ure. If situated near a larger place, 
 where quality brings a greater prem- 
 ium, the margin would naturally be 
 greater. 
 
 It is necessary to keep the coops 
 and feeding troughs, as well as the 
 shed, absolutely clean. If a contagious 
 disease should be introduced, it would 
 have an excellent opportunity to 
 sweep through the flock. The danger 
 of disease, however, where the farmer 
 raises his own birds and raises them 
 right is less than it is where one is 
 blying promiscuously. It was found 
 that it stimulated the appetites to 
 give the fowls some succulent green 
 food, as young clover, two or three 
 times during the feeding period. Grit 
 and charcoal were also fed twice dur- 
 ing the period. The type of bird that 
 has fattened best has been of the 
 stocky, short-shanked, broad and deep- 
 bodied, wide but short-headed sort. 
 The narrow-bodied, long-legged, crow- 
 headed kind will not fatten well. 
 
 CAPONS. — There is a constantly 
 growing demand for capons, and this 
 furnishes a splendid market for sur- 
 plus cockerels. All manufacturers of 
 caponizing tools furnish full directions 
 for caponizing free, so it is hardly 
 worth while to explain the process 
 here. In marketing, however, the 
 neck, wing and thigh feathers are 
 left on, and only the body feathers 
 plucked. They usually bring three 
 
 or four cents per pound more than 
 other poultry at the same season, and, 
 besides, when a cockerel is caponized 
 he does much better, grows larger on 
 less feed, and is not so troublesome. 
 
 Capons and fattened poultry should 
 not be marketed alive as they loose 
 weight very rapidly. They should 
 fast 24 hours before killing, and should 
 be killed by bleeding in the mouth, 
 and, preferably, dry picked. They al- 
 ways look nicer packed in boxes than 
 in barrels, and if the weather is warm, 
 they should be packed in ice. 
 
 In England and France the fowl is 
 laid in a trough called a "shaping 
 board", and a weight placed on it, giv- 
 ing it a peculiar shape which seems 
 to attract attention and bring better 
 prices in those countries. 
 
 MARKETING EGGS.— There is 
 good money in producing eggs for 
 market and if they are gathered fresh 
 every day, so that it is known that 
 they are fresh, there will be no trou- 
 ble in finding customers for them. The 
 great mistake egg-farmers make is to 
 think, when they have a trade estab- 
 lished, that anything will do. Even 
 the best will fail sometimes. I once 
 found an egg soft-boiled within two 
 hours after it was laid to be bloody 
 inside around the yolk, due probably 
 to the rupture of some part in the 
 laying process If this had gone to a 
 city consumer, who was paying a high 
 price, it would have caused untold 
 damage to ray trade. Hence, only 
 eggs from carefully fed hens should 
 be sent to market. They should be 
 clean, and, if soiled, should be washed. 
 
 If you are sure your fowls or eggs 
 are of first quality it is a good plan 
 to put your name and address on the 
 package. This is one of the simplest 
 forms of advertising and probably the 
 most effective. There is a great ad- 
 vantage in business in a good reputa- 
 tion, and the only way to get a good 
 reputation is to produce good goods 
 and put your name on them. 
 
Pair of Bronze Turkeys. 
 
 Chapter XL Turkeys. 
 
 Every poultryman should study 
 turkey culture. The average poultry- 
 man will tell you that turkeys "are 
 hard to raise." This is, no doubt, to 
 a certain extent, true, but it is large- 
 ly due to the fact that we poultrymen 
 have not fully learned the habits of 
 the turkey. 
 
 Our turkeys are direct decendents 
 of the wild turkey which still inhabit 
 some parts of the United States, and 
 it is said that some of the largest 
 specimens we have were produced by 
 crossing large tame toms with wild 
 turkey hens. This shows us the great 
 difference between turkeys and chick- 
 ens. Chick-ens have been undergoing 
 a process of domestication since be- 
 fore history began. Columella tells 
 us the Romans kept poultry for pleas- 
 ure and diversion, and records in India 
 indicate that the Indian fowl was do- 
 mesticated 1000 years B. C. Hence, 
 it appears our chickens have been do- 
 
 mesticated nearly three thousand 
 years, but turkeys have been domesti- 
 cated since the discovery of America. 
 Is it any wonder then that when we 
 apply similar methods of care and 
 feeding in rearing turkeys as we do 
 in rearing chickens our efforts prove 
 fruitless? 
 
 Turkeys are like our game chick- 
 ens, the} are more susceptible to the 
 parisites than are our other classes of 
 fowls which have been longer bred in 
 domestication and require food more 
 similar to that which they would ob- 
 tain if they ran wild, that is, more ani- 
 mal matter in the summer months 
 and seeds and berries in fall and win- 
 ter. 
 
 Turkeys are bred in the following 
 standard varieties: Bronze, Narragan- 
 sett, Buff, Slate, White and Black. 
 
 From the farmer's standpoint the 
 desirable characteristics are large 
 frame, deep body and broad, full 
 
breast. The fancier farther requires 
 that the bird walk with a stately car- 
 riage and that his eye shall have an 
 alert expression. 
 
 The author admits that he has not 
 tried raising turk-eys, hence he has 
 consulted various famous turkey rais- 
 ers and gives below a summary of the 
 pointers which they have given. 
 
 The turkey grows slowly and the 
 Bronze variety does not reach matur- 
 ity until about four years old. One 
 noted breeder says she started with 
 three pure-bred hens and a torn and 
 recommends starting on a small scale 
 and growing into the business. 
 
 The turkey hen usually lays about 
 thirty eggs per annum. Pullets from 
 sixteen to twenty pounds and old hens 
 from eighteen to twenty-three pounds 
 are said to be the best breeders. Tur- 
 key hens at laying times will pick up 
 nearly all the food they will need 
 and many who get poor results are 
 themselves to blame because the tur- 
 key hen is too fat. 
 
 As turkeys do best when allowed 
 free range a place should be fixed for 
 them in a piece of timber or wood lot. 
 A house boarded up tight on the east, 
 north and west sides and having a 
 good roof will make a splendid roost- 
 ing and feeding place. If the roof is 
 a shed roof and the high part is on 
 the north side, a fence rail about three 
 fe-st below the roof will be about right 
 for a roost. 
 
 Some have had trouble in getting 
 the turkeys to use the houses prepar- 
 ed for them, but when cold weather 
 and frost come if they are fed under 
 such a shed, they will soon learn to 
 occupy the roost prepared for them. 
 
 Sugar barrels make an ideal nest 
 for turkeys One breeder described 
 the nest as follows: She saws out two 
 or three staves between the middle 
 hoops and sets the barrel open end 
 up in some dark corner. She puts 
 straw in the bottom — and I would 
 recommend dusting this straw thor- 
 oughly with some lice powder or 
 painting the inside of the barrel with 
 a lice killer paint. Tack an old piece 
 of gunny sack over the opening on the 
 side and also over the top. Now put 
 in some dummy eggs and your nest is 
 
 ready for the setting turkey hen. If 
 care is taken to wait until quite dark 
 before i amoving the hen and she is 
 gently carried under the arm and 
 placed on this nest, no trouble will be 
 experienced in getting her to sit, pro- 
 vided, of course, she is broody. Next 
 morning put food in the front of the 
 barrel and raise the curtain. If she 
 comes off all right — and when she 
 goes back on lower the curtain again. 
 If, however, she does not come off in 
 a half hour, lower the curtain and 
 wait until the following day and raise 
 it again. If she does not come off tor 
 three days she may be lifted off gent- 
 ly and placed beside the food and left 
 to go on the nest alone, when she is 
 through eating. 
 
 When the little poults appear — the 
 first thing to do after they are dry is 
 to grease their heads and under the 
 wings with a good lice ointment. The 
 hen may also be dusted with a lice 
 powder. 
 
 If you have plenty of range it is 
 best to let the turkey hen run at large 
 with the poults. She will rear as many 
 as you will with all the coddling you 
 can give them. The dew on the grass 
 will furnish all the water they will 
 need and the roadside will yield a sup- 
 ply of bugs snails, etc., which are 
 ideal food. 
 
 May is an ideal month in which to 
 hatch turkeys, as it will give time 
 enough to get a good growth before 
 fall. 
 
 Another breeder feeds young poults 
 as follows: — Mix milk curd with onion 
 tops cut fine and pepper grass cut 
 fine seasoned with black pepper and 
 fed morning, noon and night. Table 
 scraps and raw eggs (infertile eggs 
 may be used) are added when obtain- 
 able. Young turkeys should have grit 
 before them at all times and after a 
 day or two sound wheat may be mixed 
 with the food. 
 
 Some prefer to let the poults run 
 with the hen as soon as taken from 
 the nest, while others recommend 
 keeping them in close quarters under 
 shelter until they are six weeks old. 
 I believe this depends largely upon 
 the climate and season and kind of 
 shelter in the run. On prairie land. 
 
with few trees, pernaps it would be 
 best to confine tbem. 
 
 Care should be taken not to over- 
 feed and if confined — the coop should 
 be painted once a week with lice 
 paint especially in July and August. 
 Turkeys should be fed and kept 
 separate from other fowls especially 
 young turkeys as a pick from a chick- 
 en is apt to kill the poult. 
 
 One writer has summed up the 
 care of turk-eys as follows: "First, 
 have vigorous parent stock, not over- 
 fat. Take care the poults are not 
 
 chilled the first two or three weeks of 
 their lives. Be careful not to over- 
 feed the poults, as they require very 
 little feed during the first three weeks; 
 after that feed all they will eat three 
 times i>er day until they are ready for 
 market. Be sure and keep them free 
 from vermin. It is almost impossible 
 to cure a droopy poult. If one is 
 droopy, try to find the cause and re- 
 move it before the fiock is affected. 
 Growing turkeys will do better with 
 no human attention than with too 
 much." 
 
 Chaper XII. Ducks. 
 
 There is no fowl — from what I 
 have seen — that appears to be so little 
 understood as the duck. As raised 
 on a good many farms, especially in 
 the West, they are a great nuisance; 
 but in other sections, where their re- 
 quirements are understood, they are 
 the most profitable variety of poultry. 
 Where else in animal creation do we 
 find a fowl which can be made to grow 
 from a duckling just hatched to more 
 than 5 lbs. in eleven weeks, as has 
 been done with Pekin Ducks, time and 
 time again? 
 
 The Standard breeds of ducks are 
 the Pekin, Aylesbury, Rouen, Black 
 Cayuga, Colored Muscovy, White 
 Moscovy, Gray Call, White Call, Black 
 East Indian, Crested White, and In- 
 dian Runner. Of these varieties the 
 Call duck and the Black East Indian 
 are the Bantam or miniature, and the 
 Crested is purely ornamental. All of 
 the other varieties are considered 
 profitable. 
 
 Of the market varieties, undoubt- 
 edly there are more of the Pekins 
 raised in this country than any other, 
 but in England the Aylesbury and 
 Rouen are much in demand. The In- 
 dian Runner is a new breed noted for 
 its egg-laying characteristics. 
 
 As the weight of the several vari- 
 eties is an item from a market stand- 
 point, I add the weights of the lead- 
 ing market varieties. 
 
 The Pekin adult drake should 
 weigh 8 lbs., young drake 7 lbs., 
 Adult duck 7 lbs., and young duck 6 
 lbs. The Aylesbury and Rouens should 
 weigh one pound heavier for each spe- 
 cimen than the Pekins. 
 
 The Muscovy adult drake should 
 weigh 10 lbs., the young drake, 8 lbs.; 
 the adult duck, 7 lbs., and the young 
 duck, 6 lbs. 
 
 The Indian Runner drake should 
 weigh 41/^ lbs., and the duck 4 lbs. 
 
 As was. said at the beginning of 
 this chapter, many people do not un- 
 derstand ducks. They differ from 
 poultry in that they seem to do best 
 on low wet land, and are just in 
 their element when there is a shower. 
 Further, while poultry thrive and g'et 
 fat on whole corn, the Pekin duck will 
 really lose flesh if fed nothing but 
 hard-shelled corn, as is done by a good 
 many farmers. The duck requires a 
 much more bulky food than poultry, 
 and the proportion of ground grain to 
 the coarse feed should be about the 
 same as is fed to dairy cows where 
 they feed about a forkful of hay to a 
 gallon of ground food. Of course, the 
 duck will not enjoy dry hay, and as it 
 has no teeth the hay will have to be 
 chopped into half or three-quarter 
 inch lengths, and when so chopped a 
 forkful will not make such a great 
 bulk, after all. 
 
 50 
 
White Pekin Ducks. 
 
 A splendid feed for adult ducks in 
 laying condition is as follows: Fifty 
 per cent (dry measure) corn meal,' 15 
 per cent wh,eat bran, 15 per cent 
 green foods (cooked vegetables, such 
 as potatoes, turnips or chopped clover 
 hay), 12 p-ar cent beef scraps, 8 per 
 cent coarse sand or grit. Mix w^ith 
 water to a crumbly state and feed 
 twice a day — morning and evening. 
 After the laying season is over, the 
 corn-meal may be reduced and coarse 
 flour or ground oats added. 
 
 A duck does not seem to mind the 
 cold, as they are found puddling in the 
 frozen lakes if there is any opening 
 in the ice, although excessive cold re- 
 tards their laying. It requires room 
 to exercise, and is very restless, al- 
 ways being on the move. Therefore, 
 while in making a poultry home I 
 like the idea of going from pen to pen, 
 in duck culture I prefer a passage way 
 so the ducks will be disturbed as little 
 as possible by the passing of attend- 
 ent. 
 
 The Pekin duck is v^ery easy to 
 
 handle and seldom gets over a two- 
 foot fence. On some of the large duck 
 farms the floor of the duck-house is of 
 cement, sloping to the opening 
 through which the ducks pass in 
 and out. On the higher part of the 
 floor some straw is placed as a resting 
 place for the ducks during the night. 
 
 A water supply for ducks is very 
 essential. It is not necessary to have 
 water to swim in, although some 
 strongly advocate it for ducks intend- 
 ed for breeding. 
 
 If the food is fed dry and crumbly 
 as directed, it will be noticed the 
 ducks will eat a couple of mouthfuls 
 and then run to the water and drink 
 a little, and will thus pass to and fro 
 through the meal. Therefore, it is 
 necessary to replenish the water sup- 
 ply at each feeding time. A shr.llow 
 trough is a very handy contrivance 
 for this purpose. 
 
 Duck eggs require twenty-eight 
 days to hatch, and for feed for the 
 young ducklings I have found the fol- 
 lowing to be excellent: 
 
1. From the time of hatching to 
 seven days old, feed equal parts (dry 
 measure) corn-meal wheat bran and 
 No. 2 grade flour ,with ten per cent of 
 this bulk coarse sand. Mix with wa- 
 ter to dry cru-ibly state and feed four 
 times a day, commencing at 6 a. m. 
 and then each four hours. 
 
 2. From seven to fifty-six days old, 
 feed equal parts (dry measure) corn- 
 meal, wheat bran and No. 2 grade 
 flour; adding to this 10 per cent of 
 the bulk beef scraps, 10 per cent 
 coarse sand, and 12 1/^ per cent green 
 foods (green rye, clover, oats, etc.). 
 Mix with water to dry crumbly state 
 and feed four times a day. 
 
 3. From sixty to seventy days old 
 feed two parts (dry measure corn- 
 meal, one part wheat bran, one part 
 No. 2 grade flour, 12% per cent of the 
 bulk beef scraps, 10 per cent coarse 
 sand, and 12 i^ per cent green food. 
 Mix with water as before described 
 and feed three times per day, morn- 
 ing, noon and night. Give the last 
 feed just before sundown. 
 
 If your ducks are Pekin of good 
 stock, you should have at the end of 
 seventy days a duck weighing about 
 5 lbs. The other varieties will not 
 grow quite so fast. 
 
 Among the eastern duck raisers 
 dry picking of ducks for market seems 
 to have the preference, and pickers, 
 when once they get their "hands in", 
 
 are able to pick about three dozen per 
 day. The picker's outfit consists of a 
 chair, a box for feathers, and a couple 
 of knives, one knife sharpe'^ed on 
 both edges and point for bleeding, and 
 one dull for picking the down and pin 
 feathers. The bird is taken between 
 the knees, and, holding the bill open 
 with the left hand, a cut is made 
 across the roof of the mouth just be- 
 low the eyes. The bird is then stunned 
 by hitting it on the head with a sharp 
 blow with a hammer handle. The 
 picker then sits on the chair and holds 
 the duck in his lap with its head be- 
 tween one knee and the feather box. 
 The feathers should be carefully sort- 
 ed while picking; the pins are thrown 
 away, and the body feathers with the 
 down are thrown in the box. 
 
 After the birds are picked, they 
 should be carefully washed and 
 plumped by placing in a barrel of ice- 
 water. They should remain on ice 
 until it is necessary to pack for mar- 
 ket. In packing, the bottom layer 
 should be packed back down, then a 
 layer of ice, and all the other layers 
 should be breast down with some 
 chopped ice between each layer. 
 
 When we remember that a four 
 or eight pound duck can be produced 
 in about ten weeks, and when ducks 
 bring some thirty cents a pound in 
 Boston — in February — it would seem 
 as though there was some money in 
 raising ducks. 
 
 Guinea Fowl 
 
Toulouse Geese. 
 
 Chapter XIII. Geese. 
 
 Geese, like ducks, are comparative- 
 ly easy to raise, and yet by some 
 farmers are considered a nuisance on 
 account of the large amount of grain 
 they eat. But geese should not be fed 
 much grain; in fact, during the sum- 
 mer, if allowed to run on pasture, 
 they will get sufficient nourishment 
 from the grass, and all that it is nec- 
 essary to supply is drinking water. Of 
 course, if there is a brook in the pas- 
 ture, the artificial supply of water will 
 be unnecessary. 
 
 There are seven varieties of geese 
 recognized by the American Poultry 
 Association: The Toulouse, Embden, 
 Gray African, White Chinese, Brown 
 Chinese, Gray Wild or Canadian, and 
 Colored Egyptian. 
 
 The Gray goose is grayish shading 
 into black on neck, back and breast, 
 and on under part of body, and fluff 
 are white. 
 
 The White goose is white all over. 
 
 The standard weights of geese are: 
 
 Adult Young Adult Young 
 
 Gander.Gander.Goose.Goose 
 
 Toulouse 
 
 Embden 
 
 African 
 
 Brown China 
 
 Canadian 
 
 Egyptian 
 
 lbs. 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 lbs. 
 
 18 
 
 18 
 
 16 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 lbs. 
 
 18 
 18 
 18 
 10 
 10 
 
 lbs. 
 15 
 16 
 14 
 
 There are many farms with waste- 
 places on them which could be turned 
 into profit by using these waste-fields 
 for geese pastures, especially if they 
 have a pond or spring on them. In 
 such a place they need practically no 
 care except perhaps to keep them 
 from wild animals, and the simplest 
 kind of houses will do for shelter, as 
 there are very few days in winter but 
 what geese will enjoy being out in 
 the open air. 
 
 53 
 
Geese have been kown to attain 
 the age of forty years, and they re- 
 tain their laying and hatching quali- 
 ties through life, but ganders should 
 not be kept for breeding after three 
 years. 
 
 In mating — some mate in pairs and 
 others mate two geese to one gander — 
 but the pairs need not be kept separ- 
 ate. The breeding stock should be 
 two years old, and should be procur- 
 ed in the fall and turned at once on 
 the pastures where they will find food 
 sufficient until frost comes. 
 
 During winter a splendid ration 
 can be made from equal parts (by 
 measure) of bran, middlings and corn- 
 meal, add about 5 per cent of this 
 bulk of beef scraps and 10 per cent of 
 green food. This will make a good 
 morning food, and at night some 
 cracked corn will do very nicely. 
 
 The breeding season really begins 
 in February; they will make their 
 own nests of straw and feathers, and 
 when they have laid a dozen or more 
 eggs, they will become broody. A 
 broody goose is easily broken up if 
 placed in a dark box and fed only 
 water for three days. The first and 
 second sittings can be placed under 
 hens, but the goose should be allowed 
 to sit on the third sitting. It takes 
 thirty days to incubate goose eggs, 
 
 and it is said that about twenty or 
 twenty-five days after setting it is well 
 to dip the eggs for one minute in 
 water heated to 104 degrees Fahren- 
 heit. 
 
 When the eggs are hatched, leave 
 the gooslings in the nest for twenty- 
 four hours, when they should be thor- 
 oughly dry. They can then be remov- 
 ed to a roomy coop. The first feed 
 should be clipped grass, after which 
 a little corn-meal, slightly moistened, 
 can be given. This ration will do three 
 times a day for the first few days, 
 after which equal parts (dry measure) 
 of bran, middlings and steamed cut 
 clover or cooked vegetables is the 
 proper food if fed three times daily 
 until about eight weeks old, when they 
 can be penned to be fattened. 
 
 While fattening they should be 
 kept as quiet as possible. They will 
 fatten on almost any grain, such as 
 oats, wheat or corn, and, of course, 
 give them plenty of fresh water to 
 drink. Some'fattenei's recommend on- 
 ly ground food mixed as follows: — ■ 
 Corn-meal with beef scraps; ten meas- 
 ures of the former to two of the lat- 
 ter. By this process at ten weeks old 
 they should be ready for market, anu 
 weigh between eight and ten pounds. 
 
 Killing and dressing is done simi- 
 lar to the method desribed for ducks. 
 
 ^^^^^^ 
 
Chapter XIV. 
 Poultry Diseases and Some Remedies. 
 
 If all the directions, given in the 
 foregoing chapters, are followed, the 
 stock should be healthy, but the best 
 of us are often troubled with diseases 
 in our flocks, which come from un- 
 known sources. To guard against this 
 care should be exercised in buying 
 fowls to get healthy specimens. 
 
 Poultry troubles are listed as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 1. External, as poultry parasities 
 and accidents. 
 
 2. Digestive troubles. 
 
 3. Respiration troubles. 
 
 It takes a little experience with 
 fowls in order to be able to determine 
 at first glance just what is the trou- 
 ble, when a fowl is sick. All fowls 
 will sit around and look dull for 
 a few minutes or even an hour a day, 
 and during the moulting season they 
 loose their appetite and are generally 
 dumpy. But in the summer and even 
 in the winter the healthy fowl, if prop- 
 erly cared for, will be generally alert 
 and active. 
 
 The main things to look for in try- 
 ing to diagnose the disease of a sick 
 chicken are chicken lice and catarrhal 
 troubles which I will try to explain in 
 what follows. 
 
 The over fat fowl is usually short 
 winded and in catching such a fowl 
 they will generally get out of breath, 
 breath hard and their comb and wat- 
 tles will turn purple. This is not a 
 disease, although I have been called 
 upon by poultrymen to tell what ailed 
 such fowls. 
 
 For a general rule on the farm the 
 best remedy for accidents or diseases 
 is the hatchet, as the time consumed 
 in fussing with a sick chicken is usu- 
 ally worth much more than the fowl is 
 worth. Therefore, this chapter on 
 poultry remedies will be more in the 
 nature of preventive remedies than 
 cure-all remedies. 
 
 The greatest trouble the average 
 poultryman experiences is from the 
 body-louse which infest the fowls. 
 These are usually found around the 
 hen roosts and nests. Where the first 
 louse comes from, and how it gets on 
 the hen, we do not know, but its ob- 
 ject in getting on the fowl is to suck 
 its blood and next morning it is known 
 as a red mite— it is colored red by the 
 blood which it has sucked from the 
 chicken. Later the blood turns a dark 
 brown and the hen-louse turns color 
 also. About this time it is ready to lay 
 its eggs, and how many it lays I do 
 not know, but they will be found on 
 the end of the roost and along the 
 cross-pieces, looking like a fine white 
 powder. In cold weather it takes them 
 a long time to hatch, but in August 
 they will multiply very rapidly. I have 
 noticed that a hen set in June on a 
 box which had been painted vrith car- 
 bolic paint just before setting, has 
 been literally covered with lice in 
 twenty-one days. 
 
 When there are only a few they 
 infest the fowls only at night, and hide 
 in some crevice on the roost during 
 the day ,but as they multiply they are 
 found all over, and any one going into 
 the house at night is liable to get 
 some on his person. They cause the 
 fowl to become pale and look tired 
 from loss of blood, and restlessness. 
 
 To rid the poultry house of these 
 pests, there are three methods. Some 
 inventors have constructed traps un- 
 der the roosts into which these mites 
 will go during the day, and they are 
 killed by maceration. 
 
 Others have recourse to insecti- 
 cides, either liquid or powder. These 
 articles are effective because the 
 chicken louse breathes directly 
 through its sides and cannot live in 
 an atmosphere permeated with these 
 odors or particles. The liquid can be 
 purchased as cheaply as it can be 
 made. The powder depends largely 
 
 66 
 
upon being pulverized minutely, hence 
 
 it is best to buy this ready mixed also. 
 
 SCALY LEG. 
 
 Another parasite is known as scaly 
 leg. This is a yellowish substance 
 which gathers or grows under the 
 scales on the feet of the chick^en. 
 They can be removed by soaking the 
 feet in water into which some good 
 antiseptic (such as peroxide of hydro- 
 gen) has been put, and then allowing 
 them to dry. After they are dry they 
 may be anointed with carbolized vase- 
 line. One cause of scaly legs is damp 
 quarters. 
 
 BUMBLE FOOT. 
 
 Bumble foot is a hard sore or corn 
 which comes on the ball of the foot of 
 poultry. Some varieties seem to be 
 bothered with this more than others, 
 and it is said it is due to the bird 
 alighting from the roost on some hard 
 substance. 
 
 Here is a case where the fowl 
 might just ii-s well be got rid of, be- 
 cause if it is a male he will not breed 
 in this condition, and three or four 
 weeks well be lost in doctoring. 
 
 A treatment, however, is to wash 
 the foot with warm water, then paint 
 it with iodin-e, and wrap up with a 
 soft cotton bandage. It should be treat- 
 ed with iodine daily. After a few days 
 it will become soft. Then lance it and 
 squeeze out all the pus, and be sure 
 to get the core. If the core cannot be 
 found, anoint with carbolated vaseline, 
 and bandage. The core will come out 
 in a day or two. After the core comes 
 out the foot will heal and get well. 
 ACCIDENTS. 
 
 A broken leg or similar accidents 
 to farm poultry is sufficient excuse to 
 kill the fowl and put it out of misery. 
 FIGHTING. 
 
 Some time male birds will become 
 quarrelsome, and begin fighting. If 
 their heads or combs are badly torn, 
 wash them with boracic-acid water, 
 made by putting a teaspoonful of bor- 
 acic acid into a cup of water, and 
 bring to a boil. After washing dust 
 some boracic acid on the wound. 
 DIGESTION TROUBLES. 
 
 The chief source of these troubles 
 are mouldy feed, or feeding on con- 
 taminated ground on which poultry 
 
 has run for several seasons, or from 
 feeding a ration which does not give 
 the fowl proper nourishment. 
 
 The remedy here is to remove the 
 cause. Procure sound grain — plow up 
 the runs, or get the food element that 
 is missing. This trouble, however, is 
 not noticed until the fowls are dump- 
 ish or sick. If they are in this condi- 
 tion, I would procure some good poul- 
 try food which has the proper propor- 
 tion of condiment and spices and use 
 as directed. Some people argue against 
 condimental feeds but as we do not 
 expect a fowl to live a natural life I 
 can see no harm in feeding anything 
 which will increase its growth or egg 
 production. 
 
 Formulas to stimulate growth, di- 
 gestion and egg production are very 
 numerous. A number of stock foods 
 and stock tonics are offered to the 
 public. The worst difficulty with such 
 tonics is the average breeder is apt 
 to overdo and feed too much. For 
 fowls which are slow to moult and run 
 down in the late fall months I give the 
 following formal which can be ob- 
 tained locally and mixed at home: 
 
 Powdered Fenugreek 8 oz. 
 
 Pottassium Nitrate 4 oz. 
 
 Powdered Gentian 16 oz. 
 
 Powdered Ginger 4 oz. 
 
 Sulpher Flour 2 oz. 
 
 Sulphate of Iron 2 oz. 
 
 Black Antimony 2 oz. 
 
 Flax Meal 8 oz. 
 
 Common Salt 8 oz. 
 
 Mix thoroughly. A heaping teaspoon- 
 ful mixed thoroughly into a quart of 
 mash feed is about right for 20 adults 
 fowls. 
 
 CHOLERA. 
 Indigestion or bowel trouble has 
 sometimes been called cholera, but 
 cholera is an entirely different disease 
 due, no doubt, to a parasite which gets 
 into the digestive canal. Several have 
 advertised a cholera cure. The worst 
 feature is that when chickens or tur- 
 keys have real cholera they are nearly 
 all dead before you can get the rem- 
 edy. I believe if the soil is not con- 
 taminated and if the fowls are not 
 weakened by body lice the ordinary 
 poultry food desribed above will ward 
 off cholera. If, however, the fowls 
 
once get a real case of cholera they 
 had better be destroyed, and a new 
 flock procured, — after the buildings 
 and quarters have been disinfected 
 with either a disinfecting candle or a 
 spray of disinfectant or a coat of 
 white wash, and the grounds sprink- 
 led or sprayed with air slaked lime or 
 a solution of some good disinfectant. 
 
 If these rules are adopted it should 
 stop th^^ trouble. Feed some of the 
 condition powder it will help to stimu- 
 late the digestion. But, if this does 
 not stop it a pill made of Rhubarb 5 
 grains. Chalk 5 grains and Cayenne 3 
 grains given each fowl morning and 
 night will correct the trouble. This 
 is an old English remedy. 
 
 Respiration Troubles. 
 
 Perhaps the most common trouble 
 with poultry is troubles of the lungs 
 or nose or the breathing organs of the 
 fowl. 
 
 This is largely due, no doubt, to 
 our method of confining under do- 
 mestication. The fowls are normally 
 an outdoor or fresh-air animal, and 
 when we confine them in warm, close 
 quarters for a while, and then let them 
 out in the cold, or when there is a 
 very sudden change of temperature, 
 they are liable to take cold, and it in- 
 variably settles in the nostrils, throats 
 or lungs, and they have roup, canker, 
 or consumption. 
 
 Now what shall we do? We should 
 build our houses on the fresh-air plan 
 as described, and not coddle the fowls 
 too much. Have you noticed the men 
 who work out-doors all day in winter? 
 They become hardened to the cold, 
 and really are healthier for it. But one 
 who works indoors, where the ther- 
 mometer is about 70 all day, will easi- 
 ly take cold if exposed to a draught or 
 bad weather. So with fowls. Further, 
 a plant raised under glass is never as 
 hardy as one raised in the open. This 
 is due, it is said, to the fact that glass 
 prevents the violet rays of the sun's 
 light from reaching the plant. Like- 
 wise animals are susceptible to this 
 lack of violet light, and of course a 
 curtain front or open front permits 
 this. 
 
 I have not yet seen a book which 
 definitely describes the difference be- 
 tween catarrh, roup and canker. They 
 
 seem to be different degrees of the 
 same thing, although catarrh is the 
 mildest form, and, if proper remedies 
 are used, can, no doubt, be cured. 
 
 There are two methods of treat- 
 ment. In the first place a fowl with 
 catarrh of the nostrils is apt to com- 
 municate this trouble to all others of 
 the same flock by dipping its bill in 
 the drinking water. Therefore some 
 drug should be put in the drinking 
 water, and as such fowls have great 
 thirst some medicine can be added. 
 A good common remedy is Powdered 
 Sulphate of Copper, a teaspoonful to 
 three gallon of drinking water, or put 
 a tablespoonful of permanganate of 
 pertassium in a pint bottle of water 
 and add a tablespoonful of this solu- 
 tion to the drinking water. In addi- 
 tion feed some stimulating poultry 
 food as described above. 
 
 If catarrh is not fought and cor- 
 rected it soon turns into roup, in 
 which the discharge is a yellowish, 
 cheesy matter having a very offensive 
 odor. To cure this requires a hospital 
 in which light, heat, moisture, etc., 
 can be fully controlled. Therefore I 
 recommend to all to use the axe and 
 chopping block and dispose of the 
 fowl, as the feed, time and labor spent 
 will be practically wasted. 
 
 Canker is a similar looking and 
 smelling trouble as roup, but is us- 
 ually local. I have had birds with 
 a swelling in one spot on the face, 
 probably between the nostril and the 
 eye. If this is allowed to come to a 
 small whitish head-spot, it may be 
 lanced, and the matter squeezed out; 
 and if the wound is thoroughly clean- 
 ed with disinfectant it will heal up as 
 though nothing had happened. But if 
 the fowl is only worth a few cents it 
 is hardly worth the trouble. 
 
 Diphteretic roup is somewhat dif- 
 ferent, it affects the throat, and is, I 
 believe, generally due to damp quar- 
 ters. It usually comes so quickly that 
 your fowl is dead before you know it 
 If you pry open its mouth you will 
 find its throat stopped up with roupy 
 matter. Such a fowl should be burned 
 or buried in some out of the way 
 place, and its companions moved to 
 more comfortable quarters. The whole 
 flock should be fed wholesome food. 
 
 57 
 
and be given the tonic feed as well as 
 plenty of grit, charcoal, beef scraps 
 and oyster shell. 
 
 These are the general diseases, and 
 it will be noticed that it is usually 
 more profitable not to bother much 
 with a sick chicken. 
 
 Chapter X. 
 Advertising and Selling Suggestions. 
 
 Everyone who raises pure-bred 
 fowls has the opportunity to sell stock 
 and eggs at prices ranging higher than 
 the regular mark*et prices. But to do 
 this will require some advertising and 
 letter writing. 
 
 The first step in advertising is to 
 place a sign on your "gate post" or 
 some other conspicious place. 
 
 The next step is to place a card 
 in your local paper during the egg 
 season. I have a neighbor who dis- 
 poses of all of her hen's eggs in 
 March April and May at from 60 cts. 
 to $1.00 per 13 according to the quan- 
 tity taken. It takes just about as 
 much talk, letter writing and trouble 
 packing to sell one sitting as it dees to 
 sell 50 eggs. 
 
 In the fall surplus stock can be 
 sold in the same way. 
 
 As you improve your stock and 
 after you have won some prizes at a 
 poultry show — the more prominent the 
 show the better is your opportunity — 
 you can then go into the poultry pa- 
 pers for some general advertising. 
 
 Here is a secret about poultry 
 paper advertising. It is better to go 
 into one paper big than to several 
 poultry papers small. The size of the 
 advertisement will depend upon two 
 things: (1) What you have to say, 
 and (2) the character of the other ad- 
 vertisements in the paper. 
 
 What you have to say is: "Who 
 you are, What you are and Where you 
 are." What you are or what you have 
 to sell is the most important and 
 should be most conspicuous; the other 
 points are secondary, and yet many 
 poultry men advertise themselves 
 rather than their poultry. Your ad- 
 vertisement to be successful must in- 
 spire confidence and convey some rea- 
 son why others should prefer your 
 
 stock or eggs. 
 
 The other advertisements all have 
 a bearing on your advertisement. If 
 there are any irresponsible advertis- 
 ers in the paper or advertisers whose 
 announcements indicate a "fake" by 
 extravagant claims or otherwise, you 
 had better look for another paper. 
 Again, if your competitors are using 
 page advertisements it will be diffi- 
 cult for you to tell a convincing story 
 in favor of your fowls or eggs in one 
 inch single column. 
 
 Advertising will bring correspond- 
 ence and to lessen the letter writing 
 you will want to get up some kind of a 
 circular. 
 
 For this purpose the folder or 
 pamphlet that conveys general state- 
 ments of your flock and what you per- 
 sonally are doing will be the most 
 effective. The size and shape will de- 
 pend upon what you have to sell and 
 tell. 
 
 The plain statement of facts will 
 be the most effective and remember to 
 give details — your customers want to 
 know everything. 
 
 There are two seasons in the poul- 
 try business. During the fall and win- 
 ter you will have calls for stock and 
 during the spring is the time for eggs. 
 
 The value of a bird is difficult to 
 determine. One hundred dollars for 
 a pen of fine first class birds is not an 
 out of the way price. I have often 
 said that if I wanted to start in some 
 leading variety on a big scale I would 
 visit the leading breeder in that vari- 
 ety, find from him his best birds, ask 
 the price and pay it, provided he 
 would give me a certificate that the 
 birds I purchased were the best he 
 had. 
 
 A record should be kept of your in- 
 quires so the future wants of your 
 prospects will not be overlooked. 
 
 58 
 
Chapter XYI. 
 How to start in Itie Poultry Business. 
 
 The great majority of failures in 
 the poultry business are directly trac- 
 able mistakes in getting started right 
 and by failing to estimate the amount 
 of capital required. Most men figure 
 that if they have enough cash in sight 
 to see them through the first twelve 
 months that they will have plain sail- 
 ing. They will, if they have figured 
 conservatively and have no disasters; 
 but they will have a much easier time 
 of it if they start out with sufficient 
 capital for two years. 
 
 I am going to quote here some 
 suggestions from a book which is be- 
 ing widely circulated and then point 
 out some of the "rocks" which must 
 be avoided. He says: 
 
 "With $1,000 to invest in the egg 
 farming business, and $500 additional 
 for living expenses the first season, 
 you can earn eighty-one per cent, in 
 return for your labor and the use of 
 your capital. About an acre of ground 
 is needed; and a chicken house 14x85 
 feet facing the south, which will cost 
 about $400. 
 
 "This eighty-five foot contains a 
 ten-foot feed room and floor space 
 enough for 400 adult birds. Starting 
 with 1000 day old chicks at 13 cents 
 each, in ten pens, each equipped with 
 moveable hovers, etc., there would be 
 an expense of $228, as shown by the 
 following account: Raising 80 per 
 cent of the chicks to the age of three 
 months would give you 400 pullets and 
 400 cockerels, at a further cost of $144 
 for feed (6 cents each a month.) In- 
 terest and insurance for three months 
 would amount to $15.00 Selling 380 
 cockerels would bring $114 and leave 
 you a flock of 400 pullets and twenty 
 cockerels to grow to full maturity an(3 
 remain fourteen months longer in the 
 house at a monthly expense of 10 
 cents each for feed, or a total of $559. 
 By the end of the fourteen months 
 these 400 pullets will have laid during 
 the last 12 months 144 eggs each. 
 At 3 cents a piece the income from 
 
 eggs would be $1728. Marketing the 
 flock at the end of this season would 
 return $252. 
 
 "Including interest and insurance 
 at the rate of $5 a month the first 
 season's business will have cost $1445; 
 and you will have taken in $2,094, 
 leaving you each in hand to the 
 amount of $649, and a building and 
 equipment valued at $470." 
 
 Such is the plan suggested by one 
 and while I do not say it is impossible 
 for an experienced poultry man to do 
 this, there are few beginners who can 
 come anyway near such results. I 
 must point out some discrepencies. 
 In the first place an acre of ground is 
 required ^ but nothing is said about 
 cost, neither is there any allowance 
 for rent of this land nor any figures 
 given for cost of labor. It is a pretty 
 good poultryman who can raise 80 
 per cent of the brooder chicks and it 
 must be remembered that the prices 
 are thos^ obtained in New York and 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Now with this plan the man starts 
 out with $1500 and at the end of 14 
 months he has $649 cash and a build- 
 ing valued at $470 or $1,119. 
 
 Personally I cannot see any big 
 money in commercial poultry farming 
 as an exclusive business unless suffi- 
 cient capital is on hand to start on a 
 large scale. It is quite apparent, how- 
 ever, that if pure bred fowls were 
 used many specimens and eggs could 
 have b-een sold at much higher prices 
 than market quotations, and there are 
 a number of men in this country who 
 are adding to their income by living 
 in the suburbs on an acre or so of 
 ground and raising pure bred fowls. 
 
 There are many ways of getting 
 started in such an undertaking. The 
 only difference from commercial poul- 
 try farming will be in the quality of 
 the birds procured for breeding pur- 
 poses—the houses and methods of 
 feeding will be the same — and then 
 you have a useful pastime which 
 
draws your mind away from Duslness 
 cares and the outdoor exercise equips 
 you to stand the strain of office or 
 shop. 
 
 Breeders of pure bred fowls usu- 
 ally sell enough offspring to pay for 
 the feed and advertising so that the 
 
 eggs for hatcmng is practically all 
 profit. 
 
 In starting with pure bred fowls do 
 not hesitate to buy the best pedigreed 
 fowls obtainable even though the 
 price seems high and follow closely 
 the system of line breeding. 
 
 Chapter XYII. 
 The Man and his Methods. 
 
 There are two methods of poultry 
 culture: — Intensive and Extensive. 
 The intensive method is keeping a 
 large number in a small space; and 
 the extensive is scattering them in 
 corn fields and on range. The former 
 is the city man's necessity, the latter 
 is the farmer's opportunity. The for- 
 mer requires much more labor and 
 the houses must be cleaned and dis- 
 infected every day, while the latter 
 requires practically no attention— a 
 thorough cleaning once a week in 
 summer is sufficient. 
 
 There have been some intensive 
 methods desribed in the poultry pa- 
 pers and in certain books as systems 
 and they work out very well the first 
 year. But the second year's experi- 
 ence has been disappointing gener- 
 ally because of lack of proper sanitary 
 rules. If fowls are to be kept in 
 closely confined numbers I would 
 recommend covering the entire floor 
 with concrete with proper drainage 
 and once a month remove all litter 
 and thoroughly renovate and disinfect 
 using some good cresol disinfectant. 
 
 I have tried to show in the pre- 
 ceding pages that poultry-keeping is 
 a simple undertaking. It is looking 
 after details. These details are many 
 but are easily mastered. 
 
 The real secret or measure of suc- 
 cess, however, is in the man himself. 
 To get the best results there must be 
 cleanliness and regularity. 
 
 Dirt has been defined as "Matter 
 out of Place." Chickens can follow 
 after any other animal with advantage 
 but compel them to live in an 
 atmosphere contaminated with their 
 
 own filth and trouble will begin at 
 once. 
 
 To poultry "dust" is not dirt. They 
 thrive in road dust — it helps them to 
 rid themselves of vermin and is their 
 method of taking a "dry shampoo." 
 
 Regularity depends upon the man 
 or attendant. Poultry and especially 
 young chickens should be fed shortly 
 after they come off the roost in the 
 morning — this is about sunrise. 
 
 It requires some care and attention 
 to do this but if persevered in, it will 
 lead to success. 
 
 Perhaps the question most fre- 
 quently asked about poultry keeping 
 is: How to Make the Most Money 
 out of Poultry? 
 
 I have no hesitancy in saying that 
 by using this book as a guide and 
 adopting any method that fits in with 
 this plan should make a profit for you 
 from your fowls whether you have iSO 
 or 20,000. 
 
 Right here let me say that the 
 commonest error made by beginners 
 in figuring on starting in the poultry 
 business is in estimating the number 
 of fowls one man can care for. I 
 figure you will need one man to each 
 five hundred adult birds to properly 
 care for them, and do the hatching 
 and rearing of their offspring. 
 
 No man in business when he has 
 success the first year in a store ex- 
 pects to have a proportionate success 
 the second year by multiplying his 
 facilities a thousand times. It takes 
 time to do this. You must remember 
 that because fowls go in flocks and 
 drink out ol the same vessels that by 
 increasing your numbers you increase 
 
much more largely your liability to 
 disease. 
 
 There is more money in pure-bred 
 stock than in mongrels. Single speci- 
 mens have changed hands at three 
 figures. Many specimens sell every 
 year for $100 and in England £250 or 
 .$1250.00 has been paid time and again 
 for prize specimens. 
 
 Pure bred birds also produce large 
 profit from their eggs for hatching. 
 $5.00 per sitting is a common prica 
 and for sittings from choice matings 
 $100.00 is regularly being asked. 
 
 If you have the facilities you can 
 make good profit in selling day old 
 chicks. 
 
 Another success secret is keeping 
 a record of what you are doing. For 
 this you need four books, (1) A jour- 
 nal in which you record every cash 
 transaction; (2) a ledger in which 
 special accounts are kept or certain 
 pages so you may know what each 
 item, stock, feed, eggs, etc., yields in 
 profit; (3) a diary in which you should 
 keep a record of the weather, and 
 wh-en you set fowls or start incubat- 
 ing, etc.; and (4) an egg record so 
 you may know what certain pens are 
 doing — a workman's time book is 
 handy for this purpose. This book also 
 should contain the band numbers of 
 special fowls for hcindy reference. 
 
 Chapter XVII. Miscellaneous 
 Suggestions 
 
 HOW TO DESTROY RATS. 
 
 Rats have cost me several hundred 
 dollars and are the poultryman's 
 worst enemy. Cement floors are good 
 but the house should rest on a good 
 foundation that goes below the frost. 
 I put a cement floor in a house that 
 rested on sills and next winter the 
 rats got under the floor and made a 
 comfortable home for themselves. 
 
 I have tried traps to destroy rats 
 but the best thing is a good cat. A 
 cat can be trained to leave chickens 
 alone with patience and perseverence. 
 It does not require a stone or a stick 
 to frighten a cat. If it knows your 
 voice it knows when you scold. 
 
 The cage trap is good as the fowls 
 cannot get into it and I have caught 
 as many as nine in one night. 
 
 Poisons should be used with care 
 and must be placed insid-e a box with 
 a hole so small as to prevent fowls 
 fi'om getting into it. Poisoned rats 
 must be buried as soon as found or 
 you will loose your fowls also. 
 
 The time to exert the greatest care 
 is in the fall as that is the time rats 
 come in from the fields. 
 
 Dogs, such as the Terriers, are 
 also good ratters. Spaniels being 
 bird dogs will give you trouble by 
 catching chickens and it is difficult to 
 break them from this habit. 
 
 Disinfectants and cleanliness 
 around the chicken house will help to 
 tell Mr. Rat that he is not wanted; 
 and by keeping all the grain or other 
 feed which rats like in rat-proof bins 
 you will not have much trouble keep- 
 ing these pests away. 
 
 ENCOURAGING MOULTING. 
 
 It is natural for most animals to 
 put on a new coat of hair or feathers 
 in the fall. Fur covered animals shed 
 their long hair in the spring but fowls 
 do not moult until fall. By feeding 
 well we incourage egg production and 
 postpone the moulting season. But 
 as eggs are more valuable in the win- 
 ter it is best to slack up on the feed- 
 ing about September for a couple of 
 weeks and this will cause the feathers 
 to "dry up." By starting again with 
 full feed with plenty of grit and rich 
 food like Sunflower Seed, Hemp Seed, 
 gluten meal or beef scraps, a new 
 coat of feathers will start and the old 
 ones will drop off. The male birds 
 
 61 
 
DEC 9 
 
 had better be shut up by themselves 
 during this period.. 
 
 WHITEWASH ONCE A YEAR. 
 
 Whitewash is the most suitable 
 means for "house cleaning" a poultry 
 house ana this should be done at least 
 once a year. August is a good time 
 for this, and who can say how many 
 thousand chicken lice eggs you may 
 destroy by applying this cleanser at 
 this time. The best whitewash for 
 outside or inside use is made by fol- 
 lowing the U. S. Government formula 
 which is as follows: 
 
 Half a bushel unslacked lime, slack 
 with warm water, cover it during the 
 process to keep in the steam; strain 
 the liquid through a fine sieve or 
 strainer; add a peck of salt previous- 
 ly well dissolved in warm water three 
 pounds of ground rice boiled to a thin 
 paste and stir in boiling hat; half 
 pound of powdered Spanish whiting 
 and a pound of glue which has been 
 previously dissolved over a slow fire, 
 and add five gallons hot water to the 
 mixture, stir well and let it stand for 
 a few days, covered up from the dirt. 
 It should be put on hot. One pint of 
 the mixture will cover a square yard, 
 properly applied. Small brushes are 
 best. There is nothing that can com- 
 pare with it for outside or inside 
 work, and it retains its brilliancy for 
 many years. Coloring matter may be 
 put in and made of any shade, Spanish 
 brown, yellow ochre, or common clay. 
 
 HOW TO KEEP MALE BIRDS FROM 
 FIGHTING. 
 
 It may sometimes be necessary to 
 put males that have been separated 
 for some time into th-a same pen. In 
 accordance with their natural instinct 
 they will quarrel and fight — at least 
 many breeds will. This may be pre- 
 vented by putting a "hobble" on them. 
 Use a stout cord and fasten their legs 
 together so they can only take short 
 steps. To fight they will have to run 
 and after they fall over a couple of 
 times it will take the fight out of 
 them. 
 
 The English game breeders have 
 found that by trimming the point of 
 the bill of the most quarrelsome bird 
 will tam-e it instantly. 
 
 FEATHER AND EGG EATING. 
 
 Fowls sometimes form the habit 
 of eating each others feathers. I have 
 seen a male with nearly all the feath- 
 ers pulled off the neck by his mates. 
 When fowls do this and when they eat 
 the freshly laid egg it indicates im- 
 proper feeding, generally due to lack 
 of green stuff. To break these habits 
 add cut alfalfa or color to the mass 
 and omit some of the corn from the 
 grain food; also put oyster shell and 
 grit into the mash, adding enough so 
 you will see pieces of it in the feeding 
 through after all the rest of the mash 
 is eaten. In England they add powder- 
 ed sulpher to the mash feed, as much 
 as three teaspoonsfull to 20 fowls. 
 
 HOW TO BREAK UP BROODY HENS 
 
 The best way is to take them as 
 soon as they set on the nest at night 
 and put them in a box with slats on 
 the bottom and which is elevated off 
 the ground. Keep them in such a box 
 for two days without food, but give 
 them water to drink. The third day 
 they should be put into a pen well lit- 
 tered with straw. By making them 
 scratch and keeping them hungry 
 they will soon give up setting and 
 begin to lay again. 
 
 SOME BROODER DONT'S. 
 
 Don't allow brooder chicks to hud- 
 dle tog'ether; the hover should be 
 made to prevent this. 
 
 Don't allow the drinking water to 
 get foul. It should be always clean. 
 
 Don't let the hover get too cold; 
 with the hen the chick always has a 
 warm hover. 
 
 Dont' let the chicks get wet. Damp- 
 ness, Disease, Death — Three steps to 
 ruin. 
 
 Don'i crowd the brooder, fifty 
 chicks fill a "one-hundred-cl ick" 
 brooder nicely. 
 
 Don't let the chicks get too hungry. 
 Feed little, and about four times a 
 day. 
 
 Don't feed sloppy foods. Dry grain 
 will do the work if the mixture is 
 right, so why take chances with wet 
 mashes? 
 
 Don't be afraid of over-feeding a 
 chick. A dry mash in a hopper will 
 save lots of steps. 
 
Dou't forget thai, chicks must have 
 grit; it is needed to make feathers 
 and bone, and aids digestion. 
 
 SEPARATING THE SEXEb. 
 
 When the chicks are about three 
 months old, the cockerels should be 
 separated from the pullets and kept 
 separate until the breeding season. 
 This is better for both sexes. The 
 cockerels do not quarrel so much, and 
 the pullets are not "bossed" so much 
 and thrive better. A splendid colony 
 house for this purpo&a is described as 
 f ollov s : 
 
 Ground measurement 7x4 feet; 
 
 front 4 feet, rear 2 feet. The front 
 has a door in the center and is all 
 covered with one-inch mesh wire net- 
 ting to keep out enemies. An outside 
 door hinged at the top so it can be 
 swung up like a porch roof during the 
 day and let down at night in cold 
 weather, completely covers the front. 
 The back and ends are built of floor- 
 ing or drop siding, and the roof is 
 matched boards covered with roofing 
 paper. Such a house will accommo- 
 date twenty-five to thirty pullets. 
 
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