OCTOBER 15, 1913 



741 



Poultry Department 



CONVERGENT POULTEY-RUNS ACROSS THE WATER. 



Dear Sir: — Since the time you published my arti- 

 cle about the convergent poultry-runs, Nov. 15, 1912, 

 I have not seen any thing further on the matter : 

 so I thought you would like to hear the opinion held 

 over on this side. 



The chief drawback seems to be in the great length 

 of the run when compared ^vith the width, as the 

 fowls are not inclined to keep the grass down at any 

 distance from the house; and to overcome this Mr. 

 Wright gives a plan of a plant of eight houses, 

 sheds, and runs, which I enclose. 



Our runs are occupied all the year round, so we 

 have to allow more grass than you do. 



Area of plant, % acre, consisting of eight houses, 

 sheds, and runs. A, roosting-house 6 ft. square. B, 

 scratching-sheds 12 ft. square. C, grass runs. 



Prom Lewis Wright's Illustrated Poultry Book. 



Personally I prefer the colony system, which Mr. 

 Wright credits to Mr. Stoddard. 



LIME GOOD FOR CLOVER. 



I am afraid you missed the point in the leaflet 

 taken from the Mark Lane Express about lime. Al- 

 though it was printed in 1910 it was an article on 

 farming in the 16th century in England, and went 

 to show that the old timers knew that lime was good 

 for clovers. Lime and salt are the two oldest arti- 

 ficial manures in existence, and are largely used in 

 this country as well as seaweed. 



FINDS BLACK BEES SUPERIOR TO ITALIANS. 



I was pleased to see in the Jan. 15th issue J. E. 

 Crane's remarks about the good old blacks. All the 

 other " Gleaners " seem to think them of little value: 

 but I can assure you that I have had Italians direct 

 from Italy, and that they can't gather honey as do 

 the blacks, and they are not half as good at winter- 

 ing. W. A. Teare. 



Ballashellan, Ballabeg, Isle of Man, Jan. 2. 



Many thanks, friend T., for the pains you 

 have taken to keep me posted. The diagram 

 3'ou give is certainly very ingenious, and 

 might answer an excellent jiurpose for a 

 half-acre poultry-farm. There would cer- 

 tainly be economy in constructing such 

 houses, especially for a cold climate. 1 

 would, however, greatly prefer having an 

 open court, and houses around the outside. 

 This isolates the eight different roosting- 



places. The arrangement you give, you will 

 notice, will be a rather bad place if vermin 

 or some contagious disease should get 

 among the poultry. I have used the plan 

 I have described, one winter. The inner 

 court I have spoken of is 45 feet across, 

 with the granary in the center. No chickens 

 are allowed in this inner court or inclosure, 

 and it can be kept as neat and tidy as you 

 please; and at the same time the eggs may 

 be gathered, fowls sujjplied with all they 

 need right in this one spot, and yet the 

 chickens can go away off in every direction 

 just as they do on the ordinary farm. Ours 

 frequently go away clear out of sight, both 

 young and old. On account of the trouble 

 with the hawks, however, we keep the small 

 chicks in a covered inclosure until they are 

 able to take care of themselves. 



In regard to black bees being superior to 

 the Italians, this sometimes happens in cer- 

 tain localities or with an extra good strain 

 of black bees. I believe, however, our great 

 honey-producers the world over prefer the 

 Italians as a rule ; but it has been intimated 

 that a cross between the two races, even if 

 they are ugly, will get a larger crop of hon- 

 ey, many times, than either the pure blacks 

 or pure Italians. 



DUCKS AND CHICKENS SWALLOWING CROOKED 

 RUSTY NAILS, ETC. 



The letter below accompanies a photo- 

 graph of the contents of a duck's crop. 



EXTBAORDINABV DEPRAVITY OF APPETITE. . . 



This collection of " ironmongery " was removed 

 from a duck owned by Mrs. Bloomfield, of Taringa, 

 Brisbane. The bird died after a few days' illness, 

 and an autopsy revealed the cause of death — sixty- 

 two nails, bent and straight, varying from one inch 

 to two inches ; three iron boot-tips, one one-inch 

 screw, and four wood tin-tacks, all of which had 

 been swallowed by the duck, and were in an ad- 

 vanced state of rustiness. 



Under the photo we read the following: 



I see you take a keen interest in poultry and 

 ducks ; but I think the photo of the diet that the 

 duck in Brisbane, Queensland, took, can " go one 

 better " than all your Amercan ducks, allowing that 

 all exciting things generally come from America. 



Walter Lincoln. 



Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, June 2. 



The picture reveals that the nails were 

 mostly crooked ones. This particular duck, 

 no doubt, was foolish enough to think that 

 they were worms. I remember, also, that 

 Kellerstrass in the first editon of his book 

 advised against allowing rusty nails, espe- 

 cially crooked ones, to lie around where the 

 chickens might get hold of them. Since 

 that time I have kept watch to see if any 

 of our chickens could be fooled by crooked 

 nails or pieces of rusty wii-e. I have never 

 found one that was foolish enough to swal- 



