1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



519 



tiseinent in one of the farm papers, and said 

 we must have some of that fruit just as soon 

 as we could grow it. I told her t felt sure it 

 was not as represented, because it started 

 out in about the same way as did the Garden 

 huckleberry. If you want to know all about 

 it, send 10 cents to the Rural New- Yorker for 

 a trial trip of the farm paper that is doing more 

 to expose these things than any other paper 

 in the United States or the world. I think I 

 shall have to confess right here that I myself 

 have in the past been somewhat misled by 

 ijiving space to both Burbank and John 

 Lewis Childs here in these pages. If any of 

 our readers have grown the celebrated Won- 

 der berries, and find that they do really come 

 up to the strong claims made for them, we 

 shall be glad to hear from them. 



WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH SITTING HENS? AN- 

 OTHER GREAT (?) DISCOVERY. 



Now, friends, my discovery may not be 

 new to all the world, and it may also not be 

 Irue with everybody; but I have succeeded 

 with it twice. In our last issue, p. 481,1 spoke 

 of that book, describing the manure incuba- 

 tor, and said the author claims that, by his 

 process, he can get chickens in six days in- 

 stead of waiting twenty-one. Now, the book, 

 "Poultry Secrets," tells us about a hatching 

 secret that has been for years regarded as a 

 good thing by New England farmers. The 

 secret was, to take the eggs out of the incu- 

 bator during the last week and put them un- 

 der broody hens; that in this way they could 

 get rid of having chicks dying in the shell, 

 besides saving the time of the hen. They 

 state that, while it is best to transfer the 

 eggs on the tenth day, they may remain un- 

 til the fourteenth, and eggs have been kept 

 even until the seventeenth and eighteenth 

 day with good results. In the last case the 

 hens would have to sit only two or three 

 days. By the way, while speaking of this 

 book, "Poultry Secrets," I want to tell you 

 that it has now reached its 50,000. What a 

 reformation these 50,000 little books have 

 brought about ! A great lot of secrets have 

 been peddled out to poultry-keepers for 

 $1.00 or several dollars each; and, I am sorry 

 to say it, the editors of the poultry journals 

 have helped to keep up the fashion. But 

 the whole book is now sold at so low a price 

 that any poultry-keeper should be ashamed 

 to be without it. Now for my discovery. 



A few days ago I had fifteen or twenty 

 chicks hatched out by some of my experi- 

 ments with the incubator. There were 

 hardly enough chicks for the fireless brood- 

 er, even in the month of August, and I was 

 anxiously watching for a sitting hen; but no 

 hen volunteered until I went to gather the 

 eggs one afternoon. By the way, I always 

 gatner all of our eggs just as soon as they 

 are laid, as nearly as I can. This avoids let- 

 ting the hen get into the habit of eating her 

 Own eggs, and also helps to keep them fresh 

 and clean in hot weather. It is a good plan, 

 during the hot months, to put the eggs for 

 table use into a refrigerator as soon as we 



can get them from the hen. Well, I found 

 that afternoon a broody hen, but she had 

 just commenced. She was a young Leghorn 

 pullet — perhaps a year old. She had never 

 hatched any chickens, but she was just for 

 the first time, probably, broody. I waited 

 until after dark, and took her off the nest as 

 carefully as I could; but she squalled so I 

 had to shut off her breath partly, to get her 

 to the nest I had prepared for her. This 

 nest was a square box with a sliding door 

 and hinged cover. She was so wild that 

 when I dropped her into the nest and quick- 

 ly shut the cover down she came near get- 

 ting out by jumping up against the cover 

 until I was obliged to lay a brick on it. I 

 went back to the nest and got three warm 

 eggs and gave them to her; but she was so 

 wild and frantic that she picked at my hand 

 and came pretty near getting out when I 

 went to put the eggs in. I left her two 

 hours to quiet down. I mention all of this 

 to show you what a wild Leghorn she was. 

 Mrs. Root says she would not have the Leg- 

 horns, because they are so "cantankerous." 

 But this Leghorn spirit is just what I like 

 about them. We have lion-tamers who pro- 

 fess great skill, and horse-tamers too. Whv 

 don't we have chicken-tamers as well? Well, 

 two hours after I gave her the eggs I saw by 

 the light of a lamp that she had settled down 

 over them and accepted the situation. Then 

 I went for my chicks and dropped eleven, 

 that were about two days old, in one corner 

 behind her. The chicks knew nothing 

 about a hen for a mother, and she knew 

 nothing about the chicks, and the point was 

 to get the two parties introduced. Electri- 

 cians would call it "making contact." After 

 they began to" get chilly on account of their 

 removal from a warm incubator they began 

 to peep. For a time she paid no attention 

 to them; but as I made frequent visits I 

 found pretty soon that she had decided to 

 adopt the little orphans without sitting- 

 three weeks. In fact, she could not have 

 been broody more than a few hours. She 

 had changed her attitude, and given me to 

 understand that she on her p a't began to 

 comprehend me, and she gave the well- 

 known maternal "k'r-r-r-r." They cuddled 

 up under her feathers and she spread out 

 her wings. She tipped her head to one side, 

 and gave me a look as much as to say, "Now 

 we understand each other." I wonder if 

 there was not a little glimmering of regret 

 in her hen nature to think how she squalled 

 and scratched, and tried to peck the back of 

 my hand. Dear friends, is it not possible 

 that we sometimes squall and kick against 

 Providence when God in his infinite love 

 is trying to bestow a blessing? Well, that 

 stubborn and contrary hen has from that 

 time to this been a model mother. She now 

 has 29 chicks, and she and I are the very 

 best of friends. I am going to put a leg- 

 band on her so I may know her in the future; 

 and I would not take $5.00 for her to-day — 

 that is, unless I find out that my "discovery " 

 will work every time, and with every sitting 

 hen. This makes the second time I have 

 Continued on puue 20, advertisina. 



