lyuy 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



617 



I had bad luck with hen-hatched chicks just 

 about the same time; and for quite a spell I 

 found a dead chick every morninop. I do not 

 wonder that people want to quit the business 

 when things go that way. 1 did not try any 

 brooder during that rainy time, either a lamp 

 brooder or a f ireless. But I have some more 

 chickens coming from that incubator (includ- 

 ing the Buttercups) and I think I shall try the 

 fireless brooder and a brooder with a lamp, 

 side by side. If we have a cold rainy time I 

 think a brooder with heat will be ahead — at 

 least for the first week or two. While I 

 think of it I feel pretty sure a hen with 

 chickens will do better if allowed to run in a 

 good-sized barn, and in stables, to scratch 

 over the horse manure, etc., than in almost 

 any other place you can put her. T. B. Ter- 

 ry says he would not have hens and chickens 

 around in his tool-house and stables under 

 any consideration, and I do not blame him; 

 but just one hen and thirteen chickens in a 

 large barn and tool-house are not very much 

 in the way. 



SORTING OUT THE LAYING HENS. 



It is now September 10; and instead of 

 finding one or more dead chickens every 

 morning I have not found a dead one for the 

 last week or ten days. I presume it is main- 

 ly because they have become old enough to 

 take care of themselves. But what I want 

 to speak of now is to call attention to that 

 chicken-escape described on p. 483, Aug. 1. 

 A neighbor of ours came over the other aft- 

 ernoon when I was gathering my eggs. I 

 called his attention to the fact that my thirty 

 adult layers had given me 19 eggs. I said, 

 "If you count the hens in that yard you will 

 find there are just 19; and they are the 19 

 that laid these eggs." He was very much 

 interested at once, and finally said some- 

 thing as follows: "Now, Mr. Root, I want 

 some hens that are laying e^gs. I am will- 

 ing to pay a good price for tnem if I can be 

 sure of gettmg some that are laying at this 

 time of the year. I know it is right in the 

 midst of moulting; but mv idea is that a hen 

 that is laying just now will be pretty sure to 

 be a good layer. What will you take for 

 half a dozen out of the 19 that have all laid 

 an egg to-day? " 



I told him I should not want to sell those 

 laying hens now for less than a dollar apiece. 

 Then he instantly pulled out $7.00, and in the 

 evening came and got his seven laying hens. 

 1 warned him that carrying them to a new 

 location would probably interrupt the laying 

 more or less. But he got four eggs the very 

 next day; and as the result of selling the 

 seven I had only a dozen eggs, instead of 

 nineteen, the very next day. 



Now, as I expect to sell out my poultry be- 

 fore going to Florida it will be an interesting 

 matter to see what I have got left, providing 

 I keep selling off the hen "that lays the 

 egg." Of course, I shall do my best to get 

 the remaining ones started to laying so I can 

 get a better price for them. 



Later, Sept. 2/.— Perhaps I should explain 

 that the above was put in type for Sept. 15, 



but was crowded out. I am glad to tell you 

 that I succeeded in getting 8 nice chickens 

 from the 15 Buttercup eggs. The reason I 

 did not get more was first, because three 

 of the 15 eggs were unfertile. As we had 

 no sitting hen at the time, they were put in- 

 to the incubator the first week. Then they 

 were given to a broody hen that stuck to her 

 job fairly well for another week, and then 

 she threw it up. A third hen was installed, 

 and she brought out the 8 chicks on the 22d 

 day. Of course I shall not say much about 

 them just now except that they are about the 

 prettiest little fluffy speckled biddies that 

 my eyes ever rested on. The editor of the 

 Rural suggests that they are probably a choice 

 strain of Hamburgs, and so of course they 

 would be handsome. And, by the way, their 

 claim that the grain needed for a dozen Leg- 

 horns would keep 25 Buttercups is probably 

 because they will go all over the farm — that 

 is, where they have opportunity— and pretty 

 nearly forage for a living. I had some Ham- 

 burgs years ago, and I think I gave them up 

 because they went not only everywhere but 

 into almost every thing. So much for the 

 Buttercups. 



Since the above was written I have tried 

 hard to see if I could not rear some incuba- 

 tor chickens just as strong and healthy as 

 those that the hen hatched out of the muddy 

 eggs, and I have succeeded fairly. First, I 

 took great care to see that the chicks were 

 never chilled in the least. They were kept 

 24 hours in a little nursery in the upper part 

 of the incubator, where they had mcubator 

 heat, but so arranged that they could have 

 their little heads out in the cool air whenever 

 they desired, just as a newly hatched chick 

 pushes its head out from under its mother's 

 feathers. When 24 hours old they were put 

 into a Root incubator where they had "con- 

 tact heat" and fresh a/r without stint. See 

 description of tne Root brooder on page 207, 

 March 1, 1908. 



Another thing, I have decided to feed them 

 for the first two or three weeks nothing but 

 baby-chick food, such as we buy on the mar- 

 ket. They are now almost two weeks old, 

 and I never saw any healthier or cleaner 

 chickens — no "pasting-up behind" nor any 

 thing of that sort. They are pei f ectly clean, 

 and downy all over. The reason why I gave 

 them no other food than the chick feed was 

 because I have been told that chicks are 

 much healthier without soft food of anv sort 

 when they are very young — not even bread 

 and milk. Now, I do not know positively 

 that bread and milk caused the "paste-up " 

 with myformerlotof chickens, but I do know 

 that these have not had any of this where 

 they have only the dry chick food. 



Now, here is another thing that I do not 

 understand. Pretty much all the books and 

 all the poultry-journals talk about feeding 

 baby chicks four or five times a day. With 

 my many cares I could not stand any such 

 fuss; so I just place the baby-chick food and 

 clean water wnere they can get it after they 

 are 24 hours old, and let them help them- 

 selves from that time on. As soon as they 



