188 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



Answer The easiest way of pre- 

 serving chicken droppings is by plac- 

 ing dry earth or sand or kainit under 

 the perches, sweeping this up two or 

 three times a week and placing it in 

 barrels or boxes. Anyone with a cit- 

 rus orchard is glad to get it for fer- 

 tilizing the trees. I know one man 

 who pays $7.50 per ton for it. I do 

 not know what the market value is, 

 but I know that it is considered worth 

 just four times as much as stable 

 manure and that it is a most excellent 

 fertilizer. 



Fireless Brooder I make bold to 

 ask you for a little information. Will 

 you kindly tell me of the fireless 

 brooder? Can you give me the plans 

 for constructing one, or tell me where 

 I can get the plans? Can little chicks 

 just hatched be put in the fireless 

 brooder? Mrs. W. W. G. Arizona. 



Answer Take a box about ten 

 inches deep, and from a foot and a 

 half to two feet square. Rip the box 

 six inches from the bottom to four 

 inches from the top, so there will be 

 two boxes, one six inches, the other 

 four inches deep without cover. 

 Hinge them together so they will 

 close as they were before being sawed 

 in two. Near the top make three one- 

 inch holes in the two ends for venti- 

 lation. For the hover make a frame 

 of one-and-a-half by one-inch lumber, 

 so it will fit inside the box. On the 

 under side of this frame tack cloth 

 loosely so it will hang in the center 

 nearly two inches below the frame. 

 The cloth is to touch the chicks' 

 backs. Nail cleats across the ends of 

 the lower box to hold the frame in 

 position. The top of the frame should 

 be even with the top edge of the 

 lower box. Cut a hole on the oppo- 

 site side of the bottom box to the 

 hinges, for the chickens to go in and 

 out. 



A friend who made this brooder 

 tacked a piece of burlap on the floor 

 and then filled it almost up to the 

 cloth on the frame (the hover) with 

 finely cut straw or hay. He then 

 scooped out a nest in the center of it 

 and put the baby chicks into it. The 

 two-foot size is large enough to con- 

 tain from one dozen to fifty chicks 

 for one week, twenty-five till they are 

 three weeks old, and twenty till they 

 are six weeks old, or about that age. 

 On very cold nights at first he put a 



little piece of blanket on top of the 

 hover. As the chicks grew older he 

 lessened the amount of straw or chaff, 

 when the chicks were large enough 

 to raise the heat sufficiently. After 

 using this brooder (home made) all 

 last winter, he said he would never be 

 without it. Personally I think it 

 would be a good plan to let in a slide 

 of glass at one side, as chickens do 

 not like to go into a dark place. I do 

 not know where you can get plans for 

 making a brooder, but you can buy 

 fireless brooders at any of the large 

 poultry supply houses advertising in 

 this paper. This is Mr. Killifer's 

 brooder. 



Dipping Hens Would you be so 

 kind as to write and let me know 

 about dipping hens, etc? I have a 

 flock of somewhere between five and 

 six hundred. I notice some of them 

 have lice and bunches of nits on their 

 feathers. Whenever I have caught a 

 hen I have greased her well, but this 

 would take too long to go through 

 the bunch. Is there any dip that 

 would be strong enough and do no 

 harm to the birds that would kill the 

 nits with only one dipping? W. B. 



Answer As you have so large a 

 flock of hens and do not seem able or 

 inclined to pull out the feathers that 

 have nits upon them, I think you will 

 have to dip them twice, with an inter- 

 val of five or six days. The nits are 

 sure to hatch out in about five days 

 after they are deposited by the lice, 

 and by twice dipping them you should 

 get most of them. It is an excellent 

 plan in warm weather just at the com- 

 mencement of the moult to immerse 

 the fowls in a diluted kerosene emul- 

 sion, wetting them thoroughly to the 

 skin, or dip them in strong tobacco 

 water, or a solution of two per cent 

 creolin or chloro naphtholeum. A 

 well-known poultryman gives the fol- 

 lowing advice: Take the strongest 

 and purest tobacco, 25 cents' worth 

 being ample to clean off three hun- 

 dred fowls. Make the decoction quite 

 strong. If the user will observe a 

 few points, no one will ever regret 

 using tobacco to kill lice and not a 

 solitary one will be left. 



First, if the dipping is done out of 

 doors, the thermometer should be at 

 least 80 in the shade; second, the 

 water should never be more than 

 blood warm, say 98 degrees; third, 



