MAY 1, 1913 



brooder out in the open air. But in the 

 past ten days I have had an experience that 

 has made me think I ought to take back 

 some things I have said. Right during the 

 last week or two of the month of Februaiy 

 we have been having a great lot of rain — 

 very much such continued rains as we have 

 here along in the summer; but although I 

 have taken three hatches out of the incuba- 

 tor this winter, and lost scarcely a chicken, 

 when my forty-eight had to take their first 

 two weeks during this rainy season, there 

 was, I shall have to admit, a tieed of some 

 kind of heat, either artificial or natural. It 

 rained so hard, in fact, that the whole 

 ground was flooded. Every poultiy-house 

 on the premises, including the brooder- 

 house, had a puddle, more or less, on the 

 floor. We put ditches around the outside, 

 but the ditches seemed inadecjuate, for we 

 hadn't fall suffieient to take it away. The 

 chickens stood up bravely for two or three 

 days, then there began to be drooping 

 wing-s and evident signs of a lack of wannth. 

 I suppose I might have used hot bricks or 

 jugs of hot water; but this was considerable 

 trouble; and I supposed, naturally, that 

 the sun would be out in a little while, and 

 that they would fetch up. The consequence 

 is that I lost six or eight out of that nice 

 hatch of forty-eight chicks from forty-nine 

 eggs. 



A week later the big fluffy Rhode Island 

 Red sitting hen was given from another in- 

 cubator twenty-eight chicks. The floor of 

 her house was a little better drained than 

 the other houses. The drain tiles were laid 

 right under her. and underdrained down to 

 a depth of about 20 or 24 inches, so the 

 ground was comparatively free from damp- 

 ness — that is, compared with the other 

 houses. Well, this big motherly hen, when 

 her cliieks felt chilly or out of sorts, and 

 made that peculiar peep, instantly sat down 

 and invited them under her capacious wings. 

 When we had the coldest night, so that one 

 night there was just a little trace of frost 

 on the roofs of building-s, she kept the 

 whole twenty-eight quite comfortable. Dur- 

 ing the day she brooded them more or less 

 at inten'als, so that no chick felt any in- 

 convenience from getting " cold feet " and 

 feeling chilly. The trouble with the fireless 

 brooder is, in the morning, after strong 

 sturdy chicks have gone out to forage in 

 the open, the feeble ones that are unable to 

 follow them can't get up sufficient heat 

 themselves without their comrades, unless 

 there is some kind of heat like the mother 

 hen, or perhaps artificial heat, and are 

 bound to suffer almost in spite of us. Now, 

 I believe I would rather have a great big 



823 



Rhode Island Red hen, or a large fluffy hen 

 of some other kind, in place of any Idnd of 

 brooder, tireless or with a lamp. Where 

 chickens are raised by hundreds of thou- 

 sands, of course we have to resort to arti- 

 ficial heat. But, as I have proved several 

 times, one of these big motherly hens will 

 take care of fifty and even seventy-five 

 chickens very comfortably — that is, during 

 such weather as we have here in Florida. 



ANOTHER BIG DISCOVERY. 



My ducklings are now eight weeks old, 

 and it is quite desirable that they should 

 have a wider range; but there are several 

 reasoi^s why I can't give them this wide 

 range without building more expensive 

 fences. You see the ducks are easily fenced 

 with a two-foot netting, which you can 

 easily step over. The chickens have to have 

 about a four- foot fence which can not be eas- 

 ily' stei^ped over. If we go through into their 

 yard, or out of it, we have got to have gates. 

 Now, I didn't want any more gates or 

 fences, but I did want my duckling's to get 

 through a yard where there were some half- 

 grown chickens, and get a wider range and 

 down to the water. Was it possible to 

 make any opening through the fence that 

 would allow the ducks to pass back and 

 forth freely, and wouldn't admit the chick- 

 ens? As the ducks and chickens were of 

 about the same size, you would naturallj' 

 say you don't see how it could be managed. 

 Well, now, just listen. Right close to the 

 dividing fence between the ducks and chick- 

 ens was one of our underdrains to carry off 

 the water. We dug a hole under the fence 

 and then allowed the water from the under- 

 drain to run over and fill this cavity. The 

 cavity was deep enough so that, although 

 the ducks went in and out without a bit of 

 trouble, not a cliicken dared to venture to 

 go down into that mud-hole to get under 

 the fence. Thus you see we had it. The 

 ducks go back and forth as often as they 

 please, but not a chick dares venture 

 through to follow them to get into their 

 yard and eat up their feed and jump over 

 their two-foot fence. Do you say that this 

 mud-hole under the fence will soon get to 

 be very foul? Not so, for we have aiTang- 

 ed so that water from the underdrain that 

 goes in at this little pond comes out at the 

 other side and keeps the water constantly 

 changing. As the underdrain didn't carry 

 sufficient water to keep thing's tidy and 

 sanitary, we carried it up further on to 

 higher ground, so as to get it down where 

 we have a steady stream of running water.* 



* About a year ago I told how wp make an " arti- 

 ficial spring " by running tiles almost on a level up 

 sloping ground, thus draining the land and getting 

 running water at the same time. 



