How to Do Things

Chickens Early Chicks

The Most Money in the Early Chicks

The best time for hatching future layers or breeding stock is between the fifteenth of March and the fifteenth of May. This gives the youngsters a good start, and before the hot weather of July and August strikes them they will have matured suffi­ciently to be able to withstand the de­pression. Late-hatched chicks are likely to become stunted when hot weather comes. This causes a setback and there will be few if any eggs be­fore the latter part of February or March. Early-hatched pullets, those that lay at or before eight months of age, are the ones that lay when eggs are scarce and prices high.

Early, But Not Too Early

The eggs from early chicks will be of good size. On the other hand, late­-hatched pullets at times lay eggs that are so small they are practically un­salable even for table use. Early­-hatched pullets are more steady layers, and their yield can be regularly counted on. However, it is not ad­visable to get pullets out before March 15, for the reason that such birds will go into molt in the fall, and thus pass over a valuable season without laying any eggs.

Better for Meat

Aside from laying there is a big value in the early chicks from a meat standpoint. Such birds will develop large carcasses and come into the broiler or the soft roaster age in fine condition, and just at a time when there is a strong demand and prices are high.

From a breeding standpoint, we get better vigor, better laying, better fer­tility, and better size from hatches made between March 15th and May 15th than we do from later hatches; in many ways, too, they are better than hatches brought out during Feb­ruary and the early part of March.

Good Feed and Care Essential

The value of early-hatched pullets and cockerels does not depend alone upon the time of the year they were hatched. Instead, good care and good feed go hand in hand with the date of incubation. In other words, they must be kept growing from the very beginning. Any setbacks wlll show themselves at once. There must be good, nourishing food, and it must be given so that the chicks do not stall at it. It must be growing feed--de­veloping feed. I never took kindly to the old advice of feeding every two hours. However, the chicks should be fed three times a day­--morning, noon and night. Besides, I believe in having a trough of dry bran or some commercial chick feed where the little ones may help themselves between meals. Part of their ration must be mash food, and part cracked grains or commercial chick feed.

Equally important with the kind of feed is regularity in giving it. There must be a regular hour for feeding and at that hour the food must be given. It is almost incredible how

113

How to Do Things

Hen Hatching Chickens

well the chicks, with their ravenous appetites, know when feeding time has come, and every moment's delay has a telling effect upon them.

With wise feeding comes exercise, which is induced by scattering the grain among the litter on the house floor. This exercise not only sharpens the appetite, but it puts the pullets in a good, vigorous condition. Early pullets, well hatched, well fed and well cared for, will mature rapidly and go to laying at from six to eight months of age, according to breed.

Hatching and Brooding by Hen Power

The broody hen is in demand de­spite the thousands of incubators and brooders now in use all over the United States. There are many folks who still cling to hen power for hatch­ing and brooding, maybe as a matter of choice, but more likely because they are not operating on an extensive scale.

I use both hens and machines, and about the only difference between the two that I can see, is that with in­cubators I can get out a greater num­ber of chicks at one time. From March 15 to May 15 I set all the broody hens I have. They are set outdoors in barrels laid on their sides, with a small lath pen in front of each barrel. Both food and water are al­ways at hand, and Biddy is at liberty at any time to get off her nest to eat or drink, or to dust herself. The nesting material is composed entirely of tobacco stems, and in consequence I am never troubled with vermin on either the old or young.

Generally I set no fewer than three hens at a time, and divide the young between two of the hens, giving the third hen her liberty so that she may rest up, get into good condition and soon return to laying.

Eleven to Thirteen Eggs

I never give a hen more eggs than she can comfortably cover--eleven early in the season, and thirteen when the weather becomes more set­tled. Nor do I disturb a hen while she is incubating, and when the hatch is starting I darken the nest and do not look at it for twenty-four hours.

Whole corn, sharp grit and fresh water are Biddy's daily diet during her hatching period, and she does not need anything else. Corn digests slowly, furnishes heat to the body, and results in better satisfaction than when mixed grains are given.

When hens first become broody I remove them to their barrel nests at night, and place a china egg under each one. In two or three days if I find they are hugging the nest and show a desire to sit, I remove the nest egg and give each a setting. Some hens, after being removed from the hen house, become restless and want to get back. They should not be risked with eggs, as the broody fever is not strong enough.

114

How to Do Things

Chickens Incubator Hatching

Do Not Feed Newly-Hatched Chicks

When a chick is born it still has in its crop a portion of an undigested yolk of the egg. It will be at least twelve hours, and possibly double that time, before the yolk is digested. Up until then the chick will not need any food. So many beginners are apt to think otherwise, and will force the little ones to eat. That is a sad mis­take which anyone will discover after being in the poultry business a few years.

The feed of young chicks, at least for the first few weeks of their lives, should be of a dry nature. There is no ration better fitted for them than rolled oats and finely cracked wheat and corn. If equal parts of this, by weight, are thoroughly mixed and kept before the youngsters, they will get a balanced ration that will carry them through for three or four weeks. After that it will be safe to give them, in addition, a moist ration in which there is a certain percentage of animal food. This mash must be governed by the purpose for which the young are intended. If raising for future breeding stock, there must be more nitrogenous material like wheat and oats; if for table poultry, then the ration should be of a carbonaceous nature, like corn, meat and starchy material. Grit, charcoal and fresh water must be constantly within reach.

The hen can be allowed with her young as long as she treats them well, for the more motherly care they re­ceive the better they will thrive. If it is noticed that she rebels and will not hover her young at night, or if she is discovered driving them, the hen must be removed, for the young­sters will do far better alone. When a hen begins laying she is very apt to be indifferent in the care of her young.

Running the Incubator

Use soft water in the pipes if the machine is a hot-water affair. Hard water will leave a deposit of lime, etc., the same as it does in a tea­kettle.

A spirit-level is not necessary. A small pan of water will do just as well for leveling up an incubator. Try it on all four corners of the ma­chine. It is important that the in­cubator stands perfectly level.

Keeping Up Heat

One frequently has difficulty, during a cold spell of weather, in keeping up the temperature in the egg chamber. Try setting a lamp on the floor near the incubator. A lamp with a squatty bowl can be set directly under the machine. I have used a lantern with good results. Anything which will warm the air of the room will answer the purpose.

Moisture Often Necessary

If the incubator is in a dry loca­tion and if a cloth is wrung out of hot water and laid over the bottom of the machine about the eighteenth or nineteenth day, it will materially assist the hatching process.

Spread newspapers over the nur­sery floor before the hatch begins. This will do away with the necessity

115

How to Do Things

Trap Nests Chickens

of washing after the chicks are re­moved. Cover the papers with a cloth to help the chicks in getting on their feet.

Open Door Quickly if at All

The instruction book will probably advise keeping the doors closed tight­ly during the hatch. But if a watch is kept through the inner glass, some eggs will be seen with empty shells attached. Sometimes an egg rolls into an empty shell, and thus prevents the chick from breaking through. Remove the empty shells, but do it quickly, leav­ing the doors open only a few seconds at a time, so as not to lower the temper­ature inside the machine.

Don't be in a hurry about taking out the chicks. Leave them in the nursery for several hours after they are thoroughly dry. Quarter them in several small flocks rather than in one large flock; give dry feed, clean water, exercise and warmth.

The Use of Trap Nests

Trap nests are the best guide­posts to success. They point out the hens that are doing work, and ex­pose the drones. They not only tell you how many eggs each individual hen lays in a year, but they also point out the color of the shell and the shape of the egg. Other systems make mistakes; the trap nest makes no mistakes.

The time is near at hand when hens will be sold on their egg records, and prices governed accordingly. It is an accepted fact that the only way to build up a laying strain of hens is to breed from those giving the best records. By annually picking out the best of the flock, it is possible each year to increase the average of the flock.

In line with the introduction of trap nesting came the question of the laying hens giving a better percent­age of fertile eggs, as well as receiv­ing an extra allowance of feed. It Is more difficult to overfatten a hen that

is doing steady laying than it is one that is not laying.

The excellent system devised by Al­bert Angele, Jr., consists of a house and yard divided into two unequal parts, and the smaller side is for the cock. In the house are trap nests with two openings. Every night the hens are put in the larger house. The cock stays permanently in his own quarters. Every hen that lays an egg or enters a trap nest goes out into the apartment with the male. When night comes the laying hens are all with the male and they then are re­turned to their own side of the house and yard, to go through the same proc­ess.

116

How to Do Things

Chickens Preventing Crowding

How to Prevent Crowding the Chicks

Avoid all angles in the brooder. If there are square corners, pile them full of litter. Clean straw cut into two-inch lengths makes ideal ma­terial; so does chaff, chopped alfalfa, or fine clover tops and leaves from the barn floor. The first lesson the chicks must learn is where to go to get warm. The temperature of the hen's body is about 105 degrees, and it is her habit, when brooding young chicks, to hover them for ten to twenty minutes at a time, as frequently dur­ing the day as they seem to need it. Her bodily heat is sufficient to warm them quickly, so they do not need to be hovered long at a time.

Warmer Rather Than Cooler

Many of the instructions put out by brooder manufacturers say to start the heat at 100 degrees and gradually reduce it to 90 degrees at the end of the first week. If the weather is cool and the heat is run like this, the chicks to get warm have to stay too long, and they quickly learn that crowding helps. I believe that 100 degrees is not too warm for the first four weeks in early spring. Have heat enough so that after they have learned their way about there is a pretty steady stream of chicks going in from exercising outside, or coming out from brief warm-ups.

Choice of Temperatures

Chicks must be given a choice of temperatures. That is, the whole brooder is to be kept at 100 degrees only under the hover. As soon as they can be taught the way back and forth they should have a small outside run and pure outside air. In teaching them to go in and out from the out­side runs, make the new spaces very small at first, and enlarge, these as they get their bearings. The first day or two they will have to be attended to closely, and frequently pushed under the hovers for a warming-up, and again brought out to exercise and eat. They quickly learn these things, and there is usually no further trouble.

Give the Last Meal Late

If the chicks are fed the last meal of the day too early they are apt to get discontented and begin crowding. The last feed should always be dry finely­-cracked grains, etc., all they want to eat, with enough left in the litter or scattered there later, for the early morning workers. This prevents crowding in the early morning, or in getting out of the brooder.

If in any way they ever do begin to crowd, draw their attention by giving them some unusual treat, like an onion chopped into fine bits and scat­tered over their backs, or some bread-crumbs, or bits of finely minced fresh beef. By the time they have finished scrambling for these, they will have forgotten the crowding. Meanwhile, you can have been in­creasing the heat, or remedying the cause of the trouble whatever it was.

Be careful not to overheat them. This can be detected by their panting or discontent, or by pushing about the drinking cups too much. Give all the clean tepid water they want, from the very first. If the heat is right, the air pure and the food rightly selected, they will never hurt themselves by drinking.

117

How to Do Things

Signals of Disease Chickens

The Danger Signal of Disease

Colds are usually contracted at night by crowding on the roost and "sweating," or by poor ventilation, or drafts. It is important that these mat­ters be looked into. Proper precaution is better than medicine. The most common ailment in the fall is a cold. Sneezing, heavy breathing, slight coughs, and even a closed eye, are warnings that call for immediate at­tention, or that dreaded disease, roup, will follow.

Two Causes of Colds

The two common causes for colds are an unequal heating of the body and the rapid reduction of the temperature.

The temperature of a hen is not re­duced by perspiration on the surface, as is the case with man, for the hen has no sweat-glands in the skin. In the hen's case, the moisture is carried out through the breath; so, for this reason, if a hen is very warm she will have her mouth open, breathing the air in and out to take out the moisture and not to get an extra sup­ply of oxygen into her lungs.

Hens Are Different from Humans

Fowls crowded at night while on the roost become too warm. The tem­perature goes high. When they get off the roost they meet a temperature ten or more degrees cooler, especially on a cold morning, and the breathing organs become so chilled that a cold is the result. The temperature of a hen's body is about 105 degrees. Na­ture has provided her with a coat of feathers for protection. Therefore, hens should not be expected to live under conditions which are comfort­able for man. More birds are injured by housing too closely and crowding, than by the opposite course.

Almost any disease can be prevented. Fowls that have a sound constitu­tion and are active and vigorous, rarely become sick. Such a condition can best be secured by breeding only from well-matured stock birds se­lected for their vigor and sound con­stitution and, if possible, whose an­cestors were physically sound.

Won't Stand Neglect

But even if the fowls are in the pink of health they will not stand neg­lect. Many a sound constitution has been ruined by unsanitary surround­ings and indiscretion in feeding. It is well, also, to look into the condition of the drinking vessels. Green scum will pollute water and invite disease. Many a disease germ lurks in filthy drinking vessels. They can not be kept too clean.

To have healthy fowls, bad air, filthy water, damp houses, lice, undue exposure to cold winds and rain, overcrowding, accumulations of ma­nure, must all be avoided.

Feeding a hot mash in the morning is indirectly the cause of colds and kindred ailments. The writer moistens his mash with hot water, but by the time it is ready for the fowls it is only slightly warm. The same may be said of the drinking water. It is well enough to take the chill off the water during cold weather, but to give hot water is a mistake.

118

How to Do Things

Chickens Egg Production

Big-Four Egg Formula

The essential thing is to get the hens to eat enough of any combination to bring results. While the following proportions may not produce the high­est results, yet they will certainly raise the general average of egg pro­duction wherever put to practice. There are many groups that might form a big-four combination. In this Instance the four most common feeds have been selected. The feeding standard of 1:4:5 has been adopted, as it will meet average conditions of temperature. The nutritive ratio, as given, will be found reliable for au­tumn and spring feeding. But for the winter period twenty-five per cent. more of cracked corn may be fed to advantage. For summer, wheat or first­-grade screenings should be substituted for the corn.

Cracked corn . . . . . . 49 pounds.
Mangel-wurzels . . . . . . . 29 "
Beef scrap . . . . . . . . . . . 13 "
Wheat bran . . . . . . . . . . 31 "

Mix Feed With Exercise

A scratching place should be prepared, and supplied with clean straw to the depth of a foot. Scatter all cracked corn in this, several times daily. This exercise will not only do good, but will add to the egg basket. Place the bran and beef scrap in an open hopper. Do not mix them. Re­duce the beets or place in a clean spot for the hens to pick at. They may be hung up, just enough to force Biddy to jump for them. The quantities, as given, may be increased or decreased to accommodate the size of the flock.

Other Conditions to Watch For

The most careful, systematic feeding in the world will not produce eggs satisfactorily unless other conditions are favorable. Your hens must have a warm, dry place for roosting and ex­ercise. Especially at night they should be kept free from direct drafts of air. Cleanliness and absence or vermin are essential to success in egg production. This all means work, but it pays. Given the same attention as other things, the egg industry can be rendered as profitable as any other department or farming.

Marketing Undrawn Fowl

Poultry should be marketed un­drawn, and with heads and feet still on. When the carcass is full drawn, and the head and feet removed, it de­composes most rapidly.

Undrawn poultry keeps much bet­ter, for the reason that when the body is opened for cleaning, the delicate tissues in it are open to the bacteria of the air, which multiply very rapidly and soon destroy the flavor of the chicken, even if they do not bring about actual putrefaction.

The head and feet are good indica­tions of age and condition, and help the honest poultryman in making

119

How to Do Things

The Capon Chickens

sales. The legs and feet of young chickens are clean and smooth, while those of old birds are rough and scaly and show buttons or spurs. The head of a chicken that is not fresh shows a greenish color below the bill, sunken eyes, and a darkening or discoloration on the neck, all of which indicate de­cay.

The skin of a dry-picked chicken is flexible, translucent, with the feather papillae plainly visible, and contains short hairs which have to be removed by singeing.

The skin of a scalded chicken is hard, thick, close to the muscles un­derneath, and almost free from these hairs.

The wetting of a chicken, and espe­cially scalding, lessens or destroys the delicate flavor of the meat. The entrails of a good chicken should be almost empty, round, firm in texture, and show little red veins here and there.

Caponizing the Cockerels

The Most Desirable Fowls on the Market

There are millions on this new and progressive North American conti­nent who have not so much as heard the name of capon, to say nothing of the question of how to caponize and what the benefits are. Naturally, there are reasons for this state of affairs.

A Gentle Bird

If properly understood and utilized the noble, graceful, gentle, dignified and affectionate capon will reduce the feed bills, death rate, fighting, noise, annoyances, and correspondingly in­crease the profits, efficiency and pleas­ure, in poultry raising.

The improvement in surgical instru­ments during the past decade has been marvelous, but when it comes to caponizing tools much can not be said regarding them, as it is only in re­cent years that there has been real improvement in design.

A Question of Instruments

Owing to the internal location of the generative organs of cockerels, and the early age at which the operation should be performed, instruments spe­cially designed are absolutely neces­sary. In this, as in anything else, a practical knowledge of the operation is essential in designing and manufac­turing such tools. About twenty-five years ago capon­izing in this country was widely ad­vertised, and poultrymen in large

120

How to Do Things

Chickens The Capon

numbers were induced to take it up; but their efforts were not successful, owing to the faulty and primitive de­sign of the tools, and the imperfect workmanship of impractical me­chanics who had no real knowledge of the art. The instructions sent out with these instruments were also very meager and confusing, and failure was inevitable. The effect was detri­mental, rather than beneficial, and has done more to discourage the prac­tice than any other cause.

The design and workmanship of ca­ponizing instruments must be consid­ered very carefully. The instructions accompanying them must be clear and explicit, and reasonable care and judgment must be exerted in follow­ing directions.

Any design or type of tool that brings the hand in the way, thus caus­ing shadows and uncertainty, or that is controlled or actuated by powerful or fickle springs or is imperfectly adjusted, will give trouble and cause failure, loss and discouragement.

The Proper Age

The following advice and details as to proper size or age to caponize apply to the English and American breeds and their crosses (the Mediterranean breeds must be worked when younger, or weighing around twelve to eighteen ounces).

As soon as cockerels are distinguish­able and weigh from one to one and a half pounds they are just right for best results. At this age their organs are usually just beginning to develop, and the attachments are so small there is practically no danger when they are removed or extracted; but if left until the development has progressed too far, the bird will die of hemorrhage upon their removal. A little experi­ence will enable one to determine the proper stage of development.

A "Slip" is Worse Than Nothing

A "slip" is the result of an unsuc­cessful attempt to caponize. If the slightest particle of the testicle, or of the cords and attachments, is left in the bird the operation is a failure and a "slip" is inevitable, which is neither capon nor cockerel, and is a regular nuisance. "Slips" are no better than cockerels as food. Capons are sweet, tender and juicy, equaling and excelling the flesh of young hen turkeys.

Capons Improve Until Maturity

It is a well-known fact that for every chick hatched and raised to four weeks of age at least three to four eggs are necessary, allowing for the re­jected, the infertiles, the dead in the shells and the deaths after hatching. About one-half of those raised will be cockerels.

Cockerels must be sold before they get too large and too old. Roosters are always a drug on the market.

A castrated cockerel, like a castrated lamb, pig or calf, gets better every day until he reaches full maturity at least, and I personally know of capons four years old that were as tender as chicken when roasted.

121

How to Do Things

Feeding and Breeding Chickens

Feeding Stock on Range

The very best way of growing poul­try, especially when intended for fu­ture breeding, is to give them free


(An Outdoor Feed Hopper)

range and provide them with food just when they need it.

The outdoor feed hopper for dry mash here given is so plain that it will not be difficult to understand making the hopper. A roof can be constructed over it to keep out the rain and hot sun. The hoppers are to be kept well filled with dry mash, and the youngsters, after taking vigorous exercise, are able to sharpen their appetites so that they eat greed­ily of the meal set for them. The hoppers can be made any size.

Selecting the Breeders

The Foundation of Success in Good Breeding Stock

There are two ways of selecting good breeders; one is by trapnest­ing and the other by observation and study. That trapnests are of the greatest importance in this particular



In several of the largest egg-laying competitions, this trapnest is being used. It is a simple affair, and can be made of ordinary box material.

has been demonstrated by the State experiment stations and by others who make poultry raising a business.

In trapnesting for the selection of breeders, attention must be given to other factors besides ability to lay. For instance, if a hen lays 200 eggs in a year, but has had some conta­gious disease earlier in life, she should not be permitted in the breed­ing pen, because the disease is liable to be transmitted to her offspring. A hen with a trapnest record of 200 eggs must necessarily be a healthy fowl, and with ordinary precaution one cannot go far astray in selecting her for the breeding pen.

In selecting by observation, health and vigor must be the main factors.

122

How to Do Things

Chickens Breeding

The individual selected must be active and carry her body in an erect and proud fashion. The comb should be bright red in color, soft and velvety; the eyes should be steady and clear. A fowl that stands moping around or roosts in the daytime, is either weak or sick, and should never be selected, no matter what her record may be.

Although feathers are only a cov­ering for a bird, some attention must be paid to them also. Good feathered birds not only look better but sell better. Size and shape are also im­portant in a dual-purpose hen; good, heavy layers, of large size and uni­form shape, with vigorous constitu­tions, are the ideal stock to breed from.

A good layer can invariably be dis­tinguished by her actions and willing­ness to scratch for food. If examined on the roost at night, it will be found that she has a full crop. This, too, is a good indication of health. A hen may be compared to a small factory­--food is the raw material and eggs are the finished product. The output is greater when the factory runs effi­ciently and consumes large quantities of raw material.

A soft, red comb, lying to one side (in single-comb varieties), a short curved beak, lack of color in shanks, worn-off toenails, are all indications of laying ability. It is said that hens lose color in the shanks because they lay it out of them; and the toenails are short and worn as a result of much scratching.

Observed from the side, a good layer has a small head, rather round, and the general appearance of the body is decidedly wedge-shaped because of ex­treme fullness in its back. Large­-headed birds with oval-shaped bodies are never good layers. If a good layer is picked up she will be found to possess considerable weight for her size. Examination will show the dis­tance between the pelvic bones to be from two to three inches. Examin­ing the pelvic bones for egg-laying ability is a good method, but the inexperienced are likely to have diffi­culty at times in estimating the dis­tance, especially if the hen is an old one and with much fat. The distance between the pelvic bones seems more than it is, for the lower bone is forced down by superfluous fat.

In selecting a male bird, find one which has good size and color and holds his body erect. Pick a hearty eater if possible, the tendency of males being to allow the hens to eat everything and have nothing for themselves. He should be of good mating qualities, not quarrelsome, and yet possess a fighting spirit, and be continually with the hens.

Breeders do not require different housing from that of laying hens. They must at all times have fresh air and plenty of it. I believe that the correct type of house is the fresh-air one. More eggs are lost than gained, considering the whole country, by keeping the fowls confined too much in warm, mild winter weather.

There must be a different method employed in feeding breeders than is used in feeding layers, the object being to produce eggs of quality rather than many of low fertility. Mention should have been made be­fore that either pullets or hens are good as breeders, but each must be handled differently. The old hens should have no corn except in very cold weather. Too much animal food causes the production of more eggs than can be properly fertilized.

123

How to Do Things

Enemies of Poultry Chickens

How to Tell What is Kill­ing the Chickens

We may pretty well determine the character of the animal that visited our hen house by the condition of the fowls as found. Should an opossum get into the coop he will kill but one or two on his visit. He eats the head and neck of the victim, and doesn't seem to care for the rest of the car­cass.

A mink is more deadly. He will slaughter a dozen or more birds in a night, biting them in the neck and sucking the blood. Both the mink and the opossum leave the carcasses in the coop or house where they found them.

Rats drag their prey into the holes or runways. Rats, however, very sel­dom attack a half-grown chicken or a fowl. Their appetite is more for the youngsters, so the front of each coop should be closed with a wire-covered frame, which keeps out the rats and permits ventilation.

Cats and foxes carry their victims away with them; the cat, like the rat, cares only for the baby chicks, seldom doing damage to birds that weigh more than a pound.

The skunk seems to select poultry for his diet only as a last resort. He prefers refuse meat or scrap. If any of the latter is found he will fill up with it and then retire to his den. The next night he will return, and in case the refuse meat or scrap is insuf­ficient to satisfy his appetite, he will top off on poultry.

The weasel crawls on the roost, se­lects his victim, taps a vein and sucks the blood. The weasel is a regular contortionist, and is able to so con­tract his body that he can wedge through the smallest opening.

Where there are foxes, opossums, minks, weasels and skunks will also abound. None of the above pests should be allowed to harbor near the poultry yard. Piles of rail or stones, stone walls, brier patches, make a safe harbor for these vermin. A good active dog will do much to keep them away.

Hawks Are Deadly

Hawks are deadly enemies. They have the habit of perching nearby and surveying the territory, and hav­ing once laid plans, descend upon the young chicks. Crows, while not as a rule poultry enemies, will at­tack chicks when very hungry, and especially in the spring when there are young crows in the nest to feed. Little chickens that run around the coops in which their hens are penned up, are particularly apt to be victims of the crows. If the hen is running at large, she can usually protect them. The owl is a night-bird, and fre­quently feasts upon large poultry roosting in trees.

Foxes

The fox has a cunning way cf hiding in some woodland nearby the range of the fowls. He keeps a close watch and waits until some reckless hen wanders near him, then suddenly

124

How to Do Things

Chickens The Leghorn Breed

grabs his prey and carries it to his haunts. If unable to capture any poultry during the day, he will visit the hennery at night.

In sections where foxes are known to exist, the foundations of the poul­try houses should begin a foot or two under the ground, as the sly old rey­nard has a knack of making a tunnel under the sill to gain entrance to the house. Care should also be taken that the houses are so closed at night that it is impossible for any of the night­-prowling enemies named above to en­ter; and it is a wise poultryman who keeps a padlock on the door, for there are other poultry enemies besides those mentioned--the two-legged kind. There can be nothing more discour­aging than to find, on opening up the pens in the morning, that some "mid­night poultry raiser" has cleaned up your entire stock of chickens.

Leghorn Egg Machines

The Leghorn is an Italian--chock-full of business and plumb-full of "pep."

The demand for large, white-shelled eggs has made Leghorns and Minor­cas very fashionable breeds. However, there are some markets that prefer brown eggs, and in such sect­ions the Leghorns and Minorcas are not extensively kept.

Of the Leghorn family I have had experience with the Single Comb Brown and Single Comb White varieties. I was always able to get more eggs from the Brown Leghorns than I could from the White, but eggs from the Brown variety were so much smaller in size that I was getting more pounds of eggs from the White Leghorns than from the Brown. While size eggs may not have much to do with the general market, it does have great influence in holding pri­vate trade.

I found the Leghorns excellent lay­ers during the spring, summer and fall, but rather indifferent in very cold weather, unless extra protection was given them. They are lightly clad and quickly affected by changes of weather in winter; yet they are very hardy and suitable for almost any climate.

Single Comb White Leghorns lay good-sized eggs, generally of good shape and uniform; but occasionally some hens will persist in laying eggs of creamy color instead of pure white. As table poultry they are not to be re­commended, as their activity toughens the meat.

My first objection to Leghorns is their tendency to fly. They are able to go over the highest fence with ap-

125

How to Do Things

The Leghorn Breed Chickens

parent ease unless one wing is clipped. Second, they are noisy. This is very objectionable, especially to a nervous person.

The Single Comb Black Minorca is a larger fowl than the Leghorn, and lays a much larger egg that is per­fectly white in color. There is more meat in the carcass of the fowl, and consequently this breed is better adapted for table purposes. The Min­orca is not in demand for that pur­pose, however, because of the dark pin-feathers and whit skin.

As a rule, none of the Mediterra­nean birds become broody. Occasion­ally one will show the trait. When they can be induced to hatch out a



brood, the hens prove to be very proud and faithful mothers. The Black Minorca was formerly known as the Red-Faced Spanish. It is a noble breed worthy of more popu­larity.

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