The Dollar Hen Part 27

The kind of chicken you should keep should be picked from the three following breeds: Barred Plymouth Rock, White Wyandotte, Rhode Island Reds. If you go outside of these three breeds be sure you have a very good reason for doing so.

Then get a start with a new breed, buy at least four sittings of eggs in a single season, paying not over $2.00 per sitting. Keep all the pullets and a half dozen of the best c.o.c.kerels. The next spring pen these pullets up with the best c.o.c.kerels, and use none but eggs from this pen for hatching. That fall sell all of the young c.o.c.kerels and all the old scrub hens. The second spring the two old roosters from the original purchased eggs are used with the general flock. From this time on the entire flock is pure bred and should remain so.

Each year when the chicks are about six or eight weeks old pick out the largest, most vigorous male chick from each brood. Mark these by clipping the web of the foot or putting on leg bands. From those so marked the breeding c.o.c.kerels for the next season are later selected. When you pick the good c.o.c.kerels pick out all runty looking pullets and cut off the last joint of the hind toe. These runts are later to be eaten or sold. The more surplus chicks raised, the more strictly can the selection be made.

This system of picking the best c.o.c.kerel from each brood and discarding the poorest pullets is the most practical method known of building up a vigorous, quick growing and early laying strain.

When we allow the entire flock of many different ages to grow up before the selection is made it is impossible to select intelligently.

Every third or fourth year an extra c.o.c.k bird may be purchased provided you are sure you are getting a specimen from a better flock than your own. Swapping roosters or eggs every year is poor policy.

If your neighbor has better stock than you, get his blood pure and sell off your own, but do not keep a barnyard full of scrubs who can trace their ancestry to every flock in the neighborhood.

Keep Only Workers.

On many farms few eggs are gathered from October to January. This is a season when eggs bring the best prices. To secure eggs at this season, the first requisite is that the pullets be hatched between the first of March and the middle of May, or, in the case of Leghorns, between the first of April and the first of June. Pullets hatched later than these dates are a source of expense during the fall and early winter. On the other hand, it is an unnecessary waste of effort to hatch pullets before the dates mentioned, because, if hatched too early, they will molt in the fall and stop laying the same as old hens.

Pullets must be well fed and cared for if expected to develop in the time allowed. As they begin to show signs of maturity they should be gotten into permanent quarters. If allowed to begin laying while roosting in coops or in trees they will be liable to quit when changed to new quarters. If possible the coops should be gradually moved toward the hen-house and the pullets gotten into quarters without excitement or confinement. The poultry-house should have an ample circulation of fresh air. Young stock that have been roosting in open coops are liable to catch cold if confined in tight houses.

A common mistake is to allow a large troop of young roosters to overrun the premises in the early fall. Not only is money lost in the decrease in price that can be obtained for these c.o.c.kerels, but the pullets are greatly annoyed, to the detriment of the egg yield.

Any chicken that is not paying for its food in growth or in egg production is a source of loss. As soon as the hatching season is over old roosters should be sent to market. Through June and August egg production is not very profitable, and a thorough culling of the hens should be made. Market all hens two years or more of age. Send with these all the yearling hens that appear fat and lazy. By the time the young pullets are ready to be moved into quarters--the latter part of August--these hens should be reduced to about one-half the original number. Some time during September a final culling of the old stock should be made. Those that have not yet begun to molt should be sold, as they will not be laying again before the warm days of the following February. This system of culling will leave the best portion of the yearling hens, which, together with the early-hatched pullets, will make a profitable flock of layers.

Hatching Chicks With Hens.

The eggs for hatching should be stored in a cool, dry location at a temperature between forty and seventy degrees Fahrenheit. A good rule is not to set eggs over two weeks old.

The two chief losses with sitting-hens are due to lice and interference of other hens. The practice of setting hens in the chicken-house makes both these difficulties more troublesome. Almost all farms will have some outbuilding situated apart from the regular chicken-house that can be used for sitting-hens. The most convenient arrangement will be to use boxes, and have these open at the top.

They may be placed in rows and a plank somewhat narrower than the boxes used as a cover. The nests should be made by throwing a shovel of earth into the box and then shaping a nest of clean straw. Make the nest roomy enough so that as the hen steps into the nest the eggs will spread apart readily and not be broken. When a hen shows signs of broodiness remove her to the sitting-room. This should be done in the evening, so that the hen becomes accustomed to her position by daylight. Place the hen upon the nest-eggs and confine her to the nest. If all is well the next evening give her a full setting of eggs.

A practical method to arrange for sitting-hens is to build the nests out of doors, allowing each hen a little yard, so that she may have liberty to leave her nest as she chooses. These nests may be built by using twelve-inch boards set on edge, so as to form a series of small runways about one by six feet. In one end are built the nests, which are covered by a broad board, while the remainder of the arrangement is covered with lath or netting. The food, grit and water should be placed at the opposite end of the runway. Care should be taken to locate these nests on well-drained ground.

Arrangements should be made to close the front of the nest during hatching so that the chicks will not drop out. A contrivance of this kind furnishes a very convenient method of handling sitting-hens, and if no separate building is available would be the best method to use.

Incubators on the Farm.

My candid advice to the farmer who is in doubt as whether to buy an incubator or not, is to let it alone. If the farmer reads the chapter on artificial incubation, he will see that he is dealing with a very complex problem, and one in which his chances of success are not very great.

In order to learn the facts concerning incubators on the farms the writer made a special investigation on the subject while poultryman at the Kansas Experiment Station. Replies received from 111 Kansas farmers, report 21 as having tried incubators. Of these, 6 reported the incubators as being an improvement over hatching with hens; 10 reported the incubator as being successful, but not better than hens, while the remaining 5 declared the incubator to be a failure.

The results of this inquiry, and of personal visits to farms, led the writer to believe that about one-tenth of the farmers of Kansas had tried incubators, and that about as many failed as succeeded with artificial hatching.

The argument for the incubator on the farm is certainly not one of better hatching, but there is an argument, and a good one for the farm incubator. The argument is this: Hens will not set early enough and in sufficient quant.i.ties to get out as large a number of chicks as the farmer may desire. Now, each hen will not hatch over 10 chicks, but is capable of caring for at least 30. Here the incubator comes into good use, for the farmer can set a half dozen hens along with the incubator, and give all the chicks to the hens. This is the method I recommend where an incubator is to be used. The development of the public hatchery would supply these other 20 chicks more economically and more certainly than the farm incubator, but until that inst.i.tution becomes established the more ambitious farm poultry raisers are justified in trying an incubator.

The best known incubators in the market are the Cyphers, the Model and the Prairie State. Cheaper machines are liable to do poor work.

The following points may help the farmer in deciding whether or not to buy an incubator and in picking out a good machine.

The person to run the incubator is the first condition of its success. A good incubator requires attention twice a day. One person should give this attention, and must give it regularly and carefully. The farmer's wife or some younger member of the family can often give more time and interest to this work than can the farmer. The likelihood of a person's success with artificial hatchers can best be determined by himself.

The best location for an incubator is a moderately damp cellar. The next choice would be a room in the house away from the fire or from windows. Drafts of air blowing on the machine are especially to be avoided. Not only do they affect the temperature directly, but cause the lamp to burn irregularly, and this may result in fire.

The objects in view in building an incubator are: (1) To keep the eggs at a proper temperature (103 degrees on a level with the top of the eggs). (2) To cause the evaporation of moisture from the eggs at a normal rate. (3) To prevent the eggs from resting too long in one position.

The case of the incubator should be built double, or triple-walled, to withstand variation in the outside temperature. The doors should fit neatly and be made of double gla.s.s. The lamp should be made of the best material, and the wick of sufficient width that the temperature may be maintained with a low blaze. The most satisfactory place for the lamp is at the end of the machine, outside the case.

Regulators composed of two metals, such as aluminum and steel, are best. Wafers filled with ether or similar liquid are more sensitive but weaker in action. Hard-rubber bars are frequently used.

The most practical system of controlling evaporation is a system of forced ventilation, in which the air is heated around the lamp-flue and pa.s.ses through the egg-chamber at a rate determined by ventilators in the bottom of the machine. With the outside air cold and dry only slight current is required, but as the outer air becomes warmer or damper more circulation is needed.

Turning the egg is not the work that many imagine it to be. It is not necessary that the egg be turned with absolute precision and regularity. An elaborate device for this work is useless. The trays will need frequently to be removed and turned around or shifted, and the eggs can be turned at this time by lifting out a few on one side of the tray and rolling the others over.

Two other points to be considered in the incubator are: A suitable nursery or place for the newly hatched chick, and a good thermometer.

Rearing Chicks.

If it is very early in the spring, and the ground is damp, it is best to put the hen and her brood in some building. During the most of the season the best thing is an outdoor coop. The first consideration in making a chicken-coop is to see that it is rain-proof and rat-tight. The next thing to look for is that the coop is not air-tight. Let the front be of rat-tight netting or heavy screen. The same general plan may be used for small coops for hens, or for larger coops to be used as colony-houses for growing chickens. The essentials are: A movable floor raided on cleats, a sliding front covered with rat-tight netting, and a hood over the front to keep the rain from beating in. If used late in the fall or early in the spring a piece of cloth should be tacked on the sliding front.

The chicken-coops should not be bunched up, but scattered out over as much ground as is convenient. Neither should they remain long in one spot, but should be shifted a few feet each day. At first water should be provided at each coop, but as the chickens grow older they may be required to come to a few central water pans.

As before suggested, rearing chicks with hens is the only suitable method for general farm practice. The brooder on the farm is an expensive nuisance.

For brooder raised chicks it is necessary to provide means for the little chick to exercise. But in the season when the great majority of farm chicks are raised they may be placed out of doors from the start and the trouble will now be to keep them from getting too much exercise, i.e.: to keep the hens from chasing around with them especially in the wet gra.s.s. This is properly prevented by keeping the brood coops in plowed ground, and keeping the hens confined by a slatted door, until the chicks are strong enough to follow her readily.

The chick should not be fed until 48 to 72 hours old. It may then be started on the same kind of food as is to form its diet in after life. The hard boiled egg and bread and milk diets are wholly unnecessary and are only a waste of time.

I recommend the same system of chick feeding for the general farm as is used on commercial plants, and I especially insist that it will pay the farmer to provide meat food of some sort for his growing chicks. The amount eaten will not be large, nor need the farmer fear that supplying the chicks with meat food will prevent their consuming all the bugs and worms that come their way.

Besides comfortable quarters, the chick to thrive, must have: Exercise, water, grit, a variety of grain food, green or succulent food, and meat food.

Water should be provided in shallow dishes. This can best be arranged by having a dish with an inverted can or bottle which allows only a little water to stand in the drinking basin.

Chicks running at large on gravelly ground need no provision for grit. Chicks on board floors or clay soils must be provided with either coa.r.s.e sand or chick grit, such as is sold for the purpose.

Grain is the princ.i.p.al, and, too often, the only food of the chick.

The common farm way of feeding grain to young chickens is to mix corn-meal and water and feed in a trough or on the ground. There is no particular advantage in this way of feeding, and there are several disadvantages. The feed is all in a bunch, and the weaker chicks are crowded out, while if wet feed is thrown on the ground or in a dirty trough the chicks must swallow the adhering filth, and if any food is left over it quickly sours and becomes a menace to health. Some people mix dough with sour milk and soda and bake this into a bread. The better way is to feed all of the grain in a natural dry condition.

There are foods in the market known as chick foods. The commercial foods contain various grains and seeds, together with meat and grit.

Their use renders chick feeding quite a simple matter, it being necessary to supply in addition only water and green foods. For those who wish to prepare their own chick foods the following suggestions are given:

Oatmeal is probably the best grain food for chicks. Oats cannot be suitably prepared, however, in a common feed-mill. The hulled oats are what is wanted. They can be purchased as the common rolled oats, or sometimes as cut or pin-head oatmeal. The latter form would be preferred, but either of these is an excellent chick feed. Oats in these forms are expensive and should be purchased in bulk, not in packages. If too expensive, oats should be used only for a few days, when they may be replaced by cheaper grains. Cracked corn is the best and cheapest chick food. Flaxseed could be used in small quant.i.ties. Kaffir-corn, wheat, cow-peas--in fact any wholesome grain--may be used, the more variety the better. Farmers possessing feed-mills have no excuse for feeding chicks exclusively on one kind of grain. If there is no way of grinding corn on the farm, oatmeal, millet seed and corn chop can be purchased. At about one week of age whole Kaffir-corn, and, a little later whole wheat, can be used to replace the more expensive feeds.

Green or bulky food of some kind is necessary to the healthy growth of young chickens. Chickens fed in litter from clover or alfalfa will pick up many bits of leaves. This answers the purpose fairly well, but it is advisable to feed some leafy vegetable, as kale or lettuce. The chicks should be gotten on some growing green crop as soon as possible.

Chickens are not by nature vegetarians. They require some meat to thrive. It has been proven in several experiments that young chickens with an allowance of meat foods make much better growth than chickens with a vegetable diet, even when the chemical const.i.tuents and the variety of the two rations are practically the same.

Very few farmers feed any meat whatever. They rely on insects to supply the deficiency. This would be all right if the insects were plentiful and lasted throughout the year, but as conditions are it will pay the farmer to supplement this source of food with the commercial meat foods.

Fresh bone, cut by bone-cutters, is an excellent source of the meat and mineral matter needed by growing chicks. If one is handy to a butcher shop that will agree to furnish fresh bones at little or no cost, it will pay to get a bone-mill, but the cost of the mill and labor of grinding are considerable items, and unless the supply of bones is reliable and convenient this source of meat foods is not to be depended upon.