MAY 15, 1913 



357 



way, or they will " eat their heads off." I 

 sold a few year-old drakes, that 1 did not 

 need, for only 8 cts. per lb. because nobody 

 would give more. They weighed about 5 

 lljs. each. 



Now I have told you the worst side of 

 the poultry business — first, getting the chick- 

 ens not old enough to lay kept through the 

 summer, and keeping the old ones through 

 the moulting season; second, in the duck 

 business, getting rid of the surplus drakes. 



The duck-books tell us that people can be 

 educated so as to appreciate and pay for 

 green ducks; and they also tell us about 

 experts who will jaick a duck and get it 

 ready for the table in tliree or four min- 

 utes, while Mrs. Root declai'es it takes a 

 good part of the whole forenoon; and she 

 has consulted other women who feel a good 

 deal as she does about it. And she thinks 

 a nice fat chicken is ahead of a duck after 

 it is ready. 



CHUFAS FOR CHICKENS. 



In answer to Mr. A. T. Cook's letter, April 1, I 

 wish to say a word about the chufas. My father's 

 family used to object to planting chufas close to the 

 house, for we always thought that meant "no eggs." 

 But one spring my father planted a little over an 

 acre of chufas near the house in some rich cow-pens, 

 and just as the nuts began to mature the chicks took 

 to them, and, to our surprise, we got more eggs than 

 we had ever got before, in the fall and winter. 



Cody, Fla., April 14. Henky F. Stafford. 



Friend S., I am very glad to get the 

 above, for the reason that one of our neigh- 

 bors in Florida thought his hens stopped 

 laying just because they had access to a 

 plot of ground where he had been growing 

 chufas; and if I am correct there has been 

 a sort of notion, as you say, that chufas 

 are not good for eggs, and we have now two 

 instances showing quite conclusively to the 

 contrary. I am glad ; for if true it cuts out 

 the expense of harvesting the crop. If I 

 am correct, the chufas may remain in the 

 ground, especially in localities where there 

 is no freezing, for a considerable length of 

 time without injury. We are giving them 

 a further trial. 



HAWKS AND CHICKENS ; HOW A TEXAS WOMAN DOES. 



Mr. A. I. Root: — Many a time I have been tempt- 

 ed to write to you after reading your Home talks in 

 Gleanings. These Home talks always interested 

 me, and after reading about your trouble with 

 hawks I want to tell you my way of scaring them 

 away. 



Last fall and winter I hatched with an incubator 

 over 200 chickens. Some of them disappeared dur- 

 ing day time. For some time I could not believe that 

 a hawk caught them, as I never saw any close around 

 the house. After I had lost between 25 or 30 my son 

 noticed a hawk catch a chick and fly off with it. 

 The day after, I saw the same performance myself. 

 The hawk must have been pretty high up in the air. 

 for I was in the yard, where no tree or shrubbery 

 was in my way. All of a sudden he came straight 

 down, about 35 or 40 yards from where I stood, 

 grabbed the chicken, and off he went with it, almost 



like a streak of lightning. After that we watched for 

 him and shot at him several times, but failed to get 

 liim. 



Then I fixed up several scarecrows as follows : I 

 took a pole about six feet long ; got some of the 

 boys' old clotlies, slipped a stick through the sleeves 

 for arms, nailed this on the pole, then slipped the 

 trousers over the pole (just one leg, and let the other 

 hang loose). Then I made a head of rags, and fast- 

 ened an old hat or cap on it; then fastened a bright 

 tin lid from lard-buckets, with a cord on the end of 

 each arm. Tlie wind will keep these lids in constant 

 motion, which seems to frighten the hawks. I set up 

 these scarecrows against a fence or bush, and some- 

 times drive a slab in the ground and nail it to that. 

 I have six of these guards around my premises in 

 different directions as far as the little chickens go. 



These guards are no beauties, and people laugh 

 at them in passing; but I don't care, for they cer- 

 tainly frighten the hawks away. I have not lost a 

 chicken since I put them up. There is no expense 

 about it, and no more worry. 



A man told me a few days ago that, if you put 

 up a pole about 12 or 15 feet high, nail a stick 

 about 5 feet long across the top, and fasten tin lids 

 on the stick, it would answer the same purpose. 

 May be so. I have not tried it. 



I keep only the Silverlaced Wyandotte chickens. 

 They are fine layers all the year. I wish I could see 

 your hen-houses and other fixtures. I am the only 

 one of the family who likes to work with chickens, 

 and consequently I am not fixed up for poultry- 

 raising as I should like to be. 



Mrs. Grant Anderson. 



San Benito, Texas, April 23. 



The above reminds me that my neighbor 

 Abbott has a similar device, but he uses 

 cheap looking-glasses or pieces of broken 

 mirrors instead of tin. I must confess that 

 1 ratiier dislike to see scarecrows very near 

 the home ; but I think I would put up with a 

 good deal as Mrs. A. does, rather than lose 

 chickens at the rate she did; and I believe 

 it is generally true that when a hawk, vi- 

 cious cat, or other animal gets into the 

 fashion of having a chicken dinner every 

 day it will usually follow it ni) unless some- 

 thing is done. 



HAWKS AND chickens; COTTON STRING INSTEAD 

 OF NETTING. 



In your issue of April 1 Mr. A. I. Root tells of 

 his experience with little chicks and those hated 

 marauders, the hawks, and how he covered his runs 

 with netting wire to protect the young poultry. 



We have found a very simple mode of protection 

 which works like a charm in keeping away the 

 hawks that live around Wachusett Mountain here in 

 central Massachusetts, and pass it on to you with the 

 hope that others will try it and find it successful. 

 The ruse is this : 



We string crowline — white bundle twine will do if 

 one lias enough — across the open spaces where the 

 hawks have been in the habit of swooping down, 

 fastening the line on buildings, trees, posts, etc., 

 high enough above the ground to be out of the way 

 of pedestrians, cattle, and teams. We have never 

 known a hawk to venture beneath or between these 

 lines. Apparently they are plainly seen by him as he 

 soars about on the wing, and he suspects a trap has 

 been set for him. I hope other poultry-raisers in 

 other localities will try this way of keeping these 

 marauders away, and find a happy success. It is 

 a far less unsightly procedure than hanging hetero- 

 geneous collections of cast-away articles before the 

 eyes of passers-by — a way of attempting protection 

 that often fails to save -the precious chicks. 



Massachusetts Reader. 



