20 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Aug. 15 



Continued from pusc 519. 

 done this thing. The first one, as you may 

 remember, was in Florida. 



INDUCING A HEN TO ACCEPT NEWLY HATCHED 



CHICKS WHEN SHE HAS BEEN BROODY 



ONLY A FEW DAYS. 



It reminds one of introducing virgin 

 queens; and, by the way, how often we find 

 that our work with domestic animals seems 

 to run along in parallel lines! The discovery 

 amounts to this: You can not only take the 

 eggs out of the incubator before they are 

 hatched, but you can take the chickens after 

 they are hatched, and give them to a broody 

 hen.* Such a hen, if properly cared for, 

 ought to be laying in three or four weeks. 

 My particular strain of White Leghorns down 

 in Florida usually commence laying before 

 the chicks are weaned. 



SORTING OUT THE LAYING HENS; THAT BEE- 

 BEE-ESCAPE FOR CHICKENS. 



It is a little funny, but the brother who 

 writes the following letter has been using 

 almost the very thing I illustrated on page 

 483. He certainly did not copy it from me, 

 because his letter is dated before our issue 

 for Aug. 1 came out. Here is his letter: 



I have been intending to use the plan mentioned, 

 for the next breeding season, to insure fertility, but 

 had not got down to the details. In the last day or 

 two I have been thinking of using it for another pur- 

 pose. About this time of year the hens begin to stop 

 laying, and, of course, that system will show us which 

 are the drones, so that we can kill or market those, 

 and keep the layers as long as possible; and for that 

 reason I should very much like to have your ideas on 

 the subject. 



With regard to the " chicken-escape," I have been 

 using the following for years: Take a board, width ac- 

 cording to size of chickens used for. I never had oc- 

 casion to use it except for young birds. Cut out an 

 oval hole large enough to let fowls through, and hang 

 in it, with two common netting staples, a piece of bent 

 telephone wire. Cut a hole in your fence anywhere 

 required, folding the cut part up, so you can^ turn it 

 down again if you should want to, and lace with a lit- 

 tle wire; then nail your escape-board to the bottom- 

 board of your fence. It has always worked finely for 

 me, and such material is always to be had for almost 

 nothing. W. J. Whiston. 



Kingston, N. Y., July 26. 



Now if you will all turn to my picture of 

 the chicken-escape on page 483, Aug. 1, you 

 will readily understand that his invention 

 consists in having one strong wire bent in 

 the shape of a letter U instead of L. Of 

 course it must be square at the corners. In 

 order to prevent the hens from springing 

 the wires apart, the wire will have to be 

 considerably heavier than mine. The two 

 wires will then rise up together without 

 spreading apart except as the spring of the 

 wire will permit. I presume the nail-heads 

 at the bottom, to catch the two ends, will 

 work all right. Of course, this arrangement 

 can be used for a great variety of purposes 

 — first, by putting your choice male in the 

 yard where he will meet all hens just as 

 soon as they have laid an egg. I am inclined 

 to think this is something valuable — see page 

 92, F^eb. L In my first experiment, after 



* To-day, Aug. 13, I have safely introduced another 

 lot of chicks from the incubator to anotlier hen, that 

 simply "wanted to sil." 



fixing my yard 1 had i3 chickens from 14 

 eggs. Secondly, if you wish to kill or sell 

 some of your old hens you can tell exactly 

 which ones are not laying. I would put in a 

 caution here, however; and this is, that our 

 best layers frequently if not invariably stop 

 laying for awhile, and then commence again. 

 The non-sitting strains, like the Leghorns, 

 usually do this. Some of you may ask, 

 "What about the Potter system and the Ho- 

 gan system?" Well, I have never used 

 either one very much, although one costs 

 $1.00 and the other $10.00— or at least the 

 owner said he wanted $10.00. My greatest 

 objection is that you have to catch the hen 

 to tell whether she is laying or not; and you 

 can not tell the story even then as you can 

 with the trap-nest. This arrangement of 

 ours that we have just been talking about 

 puts all the laying hens in a yard by them- 

 selves, and you do not have to lift a finger. 

 It may be that, after an extended use of this 

 arrangement, our hens will "catch on " and 

 go through the trap, even if they do not 

 want to go to the nest to lay. Of course, 

 when moulting-time comes the hens that are 

 in moult will not go into the laying-yard, 

 even if they are among the best layers. You 

 will have to look out for this. Many thanks, 

 friend W., for your kind suggestion. 



t 



Special xXoiicks 



By Our Business Manager 



SECOND-HAND CANS. 



We have on hand some good second-hand 60-lb. 

 cans, two in a case, which we do not recommend for 

 the best grades of honey, but which would be all right 

 to use for honey- dew or off grades. Price $3.00 per 10 

 cases. We have less than 100 cases. 



HONEY, COMB AND EXTRACTED. 



We shall be pleased to receive offers of choice hon- 

 ey, both comb and extracted. If comb, give descrip- 

 tion — style of section, how cased, grade, and the price 

 asked. If extracted, mail a sample; stale quantity, 

 how packed, and the price asked. We prefer only the 

 best grades. 



BEESWAX MARKET. 



We are receiving beeswax for next season's use. and 

 are paying 28 cents cash, 30 in trade, for average wax 

 delivered here; one or two cents extra for choioe yel- 

 low. Do not fail to mark your package so it can be 

 identified when it reai hes us. With wax coming from 

 numerous shippers all at the same time, this is very 

 important. 



SPECIAL GOODS. 

 We have now passed our rush season, and are in 

 position as we have not been for months past to make 

 up any special goods which some patrons prefer to 

 use. Let us know what your requirements are in this 

 line, and we will try to accommodate you during our 

 slack season in the weeks ahead. 



SWEET-CLOVER SEED. 



There may he those among our readers who could 

 plan to gather a quantity of sweet-clover seed. We 

 iiave already heard from several such. If prepared to 

 furnish any <iuantity, let us hear from you and wo will 

 advise you how much we can pay if we have not al- 

 ready engaged all we can use. 



PREMIUM JARS. 



If you want the best jar on the market lo-day for 

 canning fruit or putting up honey you should not faiL 



