36 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



greater by seven or eight times when eggs had 

 been incubated under her two weeks than at the 

 beginning. By removal of eggs from tlie hens to 

 incubators it has been found that the oil on the 

 shell disappears in large part. In regard to the 

 oil, Prof. Brown believes that it checks evapora- 

 tion, since it has been shown that there is a greater 

 circulation of air under the hen than in the in- 

 cubator, while at the same time evaporation is less ; 

 but the oil may have other important functions 

 that we as yet know nothing of. (Personally, I 

 believe that the hen feeds the chicks in the eggs 

 by the absorption of this same oil through the shell. 

 An experiment proved to me that the hen does 

 secrete something, whether oil or what not, which 

 goes tlirough the shell into the chick or egg during 

 incubation. I took an egg from under a hen, which 

 had been in process of incubation for nearly three 

 weeks, and another from an incubator that had 

 been in incubation for the same length of time. 

 Both eggs were infertile and intact, and I broke 

 them and fried them. I endeavored to eat the 

 egg from under the hen; uut the rank, strong 

 garlic taste compelled me to forego the pleasure. 

 The incubator egg had no disagreeable taste what- 

 soever. This is conclusive proof that the hen does 

 do something for the chicks in the egg which the 

 incubator does not; hence the reason why a hen 

 generally hatches better than the incubator.) 



TIlis oil mentioned above is, no doubt, the 

 oil secreted by the hen to smear on her 

 feathers to shed water during a rainy time, 

 and it is, no doubt, the same oil that wo 

 get out of a fat hen. Now, suppose we 

 have a bottle of "chicken oil," and oil the 

 eggs once or more when put into the in- 

 cubator. It would stop evaporation, and 

 prevent the egg from drying out, particu- 

 larly when the incubator is not located in a 

 damp cellar. You know how dampness has 

 been highly recommended for the incubator 

 room, even to keeping water on the fljor. 

 Who can tell us more about this matter? 

 Has anybody tried oiling the eggs with 

 chicken oil? I do not think we need to 

 worry about its doing harm. The nicest lot 

 of cliickens, or about the nicest lot I ever 

 grew, were from a lot of the muddiest eggs 

 I ever saw. In fact, they were so plastered 

 with mud I thought they would not amcuni 

 to any thing, as I was too busy to wash 

 them off. The hen hatched every egg with 

 about the strongest cliickens I ever saw. 

 Now, if covering them with mud, or a 

 sticky or clayey mud, such as we have 

 here, did no harm, but, rather, good, then 

 we have reason to believe that a litt'e 

 chicken oil applied every little while would 

 not be a bad thing. Just one more sug- 

 gestion : 



A sitting hen sometimes if not usaally 

 pulls off all of her feathers where she 

 touches the egg with her body. This naked 

 body looks greasy and feels greasy. In 

 fact, she squeezes the egg-s up against this 

 greasy body of hers with her wing. Have 

 you not seen a sitting hen, when chas-;d 

 off the nest, carry an egg or two under a 

 wing? 



TURKEYS, CHICKENS, AND BEES. 



See these two clippings from the Ohio 

 Farmer : 



I notice in your issue of Nov. 2 an article con- 

 cerning a "prolific turkey hen." Mr. Harris states 

 that his turkey hen laid 115 eggs without stopping. 

 I think I can go him one better. My mother had a 

 turkey hen that began laying April 17, 1907, and 

 laid her last egg Nov. 27, same year, making a 

 total of 166 eggs, without attempting to sit, not 

 even after through laying. She was of the Bronze 

 variety. This is no fake, and if necessary I could 

 furnish affidavit to that effect. 



M. E. Robinson. 



Wm. R. Lewis, custodian of the grounds and 

 buildings of the Kansas Agricultural College, has ten 

 hives of bees. The past summer Mr. L. took from 

 one hive 180 pounds of honey. The average product 

 of the ten hives was $15 worth of honey, or $150 

 for the ten hives. He figures the cost of looking 

 after the bees to have been $10, leaving $140 clear 

 profit. He devotes a few minutes to the apiary dai- 

 ly. He says the secret of beekeeping, if there is any 

 secret, is to do the few things necessary at the prop- 

 er time. Put on a super just when it is needed. 

 Know when a swarm is to come out, and be ready 

 with a hive for it. Know how to detect bee diseases 

 and how to combat them. Work carefully and stead- 

 ily, and don't get excited. 



First about the turkeys. Even if the 

 above is very unusual, it reminds us that 

 a strain of egg-producing turkeys (like 

 Leghorns and Indian Runner ducks) is pos- 

 sible, yet, so far as I can learn, there isn't 

 a "turkey ranch" in the whole State of Flor- 

 ida, and at the same time wild turkeys are 

 ill the woods, more or less, all over Florida, 

 All the turkeys in the markets for Thanks- 

 giving and Christmas are shipped in from 

 Georgia and further north. 



In regard to bees somebody has said that, 

 while the feed bill for all kinds of fowls 

 (esijeeially here in Florida) is a big ex- 

 pense, bees "work for nothing and board 

 themselves." This is, to a certain extent, 

 true; but once in a while the beekeeper is 

 not only without honey, but may be com- 

 pelled to buy barrels of sugar to keep his 

 hundreds of colonies from "going dead." 

 The statement from the Kansas Agricultur- 

 al College is interesting because it is not 

 only authentic, but because it indicates what 

 educated care accomplishes. And, by the 

 way, is it not true that some of our experts 

 always get a crop of honey, more or less? 



Since writing the above I note the fol- 

 lowing, wliich I clip from the Cleveland 

 Plain Dealer of Nov. 26 : 



20,000 TURKEYS TO trot; LED BY TEXAS GOVERNOR, 

 THANKSGIVING BIRDS WILL PARADE. 



CuREO, Tex., Nov. 25. — Twenty thousand Thanks- 

 giving turkeys will "parade" here to-morrow at 

 Cureo's famous turkey-trot celebration which will 

 last three days. 



Gov. O. B. Colquitt and staff will lead the proces- 

 sion. Thousands of the turkeys were driven over 

 land many miles, and this afternoon the incessant 

 "gobble" was heard all over the city 



The turkeys will be shipped following the parade. 

 They will go through the streets afoot. 



