Feb. 15, 1912 



oats, and finally wheat, were planted, as 

 there is nothing better for young chickens 

 than sprouted grains. 



I kept the incubator going, hatching about 

 once a month. The pullets which had 

 hatched on Washington's birthday gave me 

 the first egg on .luly 2 — four months and 

 ten days. These had been i)ut in a sort of 

 colony house, so that I had at one end lay- 

 ing jiullets; and at the other, chickens only 

 two weeks old. 



After three years the ground became so 

 rich and full of poison for chickens that I 

 had to move the pens. I plantetl corn on 

 that ground for three years in succession 

 without any further fertilizing, and by that 

 time I could use it for chickens again. I 

 find that corn is the best renovator of the 

 soil. 



On clear Sundays at least 500 people used 

 to come to see the chickens, the pens being 

 next to the street. The fame of those white 

 chickens spread far and wide. 



I feed only whole grains, and have, at 

 present, movable coops so that they can be 

 rolled or carried to fresh locations, about six 

 weeks at first, and then about every two 

 weeks after that. I always expect my pul- 

 lets to lay at the end of five and a half 

 months. I attribute the early laying to the 

 large amount of beef scrap that I feed. 



In 190r. I hatched a pullet that I leg-band- 

 ed as number 8 (I started leg-banding that 

 year) . She proved to be a wonder, laying 

 2()4 eggs in one year. In 1907 I had her in 

 a pen with four of her daughters, and the 

 five laid 88 eggs in 20 days. 



My third year with the bees was even bet- 

 ter than before. They had increased to 

 six colonies, and gave me about four hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds of honey, most of 

 which was fancy. All No. 2 honey is cut 

 out and given to the neighbors. I have had 

 complaints but once, and that was because 

 a neighbor was sore about another matter. 



In the fall of 1904 I discovered that my 

 best hive was rotten with foul brood. I 

 found that bee-keeping in the suburbs of 

 Bridgeport and for a distance of ten miles 

 each way was steadily decreasing because of 

 foul brood. I then started the agitation 

 which finally resulted in our present foul- 

 brood law, which, while better than nothing, 

 is far from ideal. 



Bridgeport, Ct. 



POULTRY AND BEES. 



They Go well Together if the Man " Stays by the 

 Job." 



BY H. E. ZECH. 



As a breeder of Silver Comb White Leg- 

 horn hens and Indian Runner ducks, and 

 as a bee-keeper and farmer, I wish to give 

 my exjjerience, with some statistics, regard- 

 ing poultry and bees, for the benefit of the 

 (iLEANiNGS family. 



I started bee-keeping in the spring of 

 1900 by buying four colonies in movable- 

 frame hives of no standard make, and the 



115 



same season 1 got about 150 lbs. of fine 

 white honey, some in sections, some chunk. 

 This looked good, so I increased by buying 

 ten-frame Langstroth hives and Italian 

 queens, and now have 17 colonies and about 

 1125 worth of hives and fixtures, and $21.44 to 

 the credit of the bees, not taking into ac- 

 count the honey used and given away. 



During 1911 we kept from 150 to 225 hens, 

 which returned to us $685.6H. No eggs were 

 sold for more than 40 cts. a dozen, no ac- 

 count was taken of eggs and poultry used, 

 and I have no exact account of all the feed 

 consumed; but the mash, beef scrap, shell, 

 grit, and charcoal, fed to both young and 

 old stock, amounted to $99.79. I use sim- 

 ple home-made self-feed hoppers arranged 

 with a 2>^-inch-wide second or trough to 

 catch that which crumbs from the hens' 

 mouths, and which would otherwise be lost. 

 By arranging the troughs right as to height, 

 a nice slanting cover can be hinged to the 

 front of the feeder to keep rats out at night, 

 or to shut the hens away from the mash a 

 part of the day at certain seasons. By 

 keeping the mash accessible to the stock, 

 practically no damage is done to the grow- 

 ing crops "close by the buildings. I should 

 judge that the "mash, etc., cover at least 

 two-fifths of the feeding expense. For rais- 

 ing chickens, I use Prairie State and Cy- 

 pher's adaptable hovers attached to 7 x 10 

 portable houses, which are used in winter 

 for laying hens. Records of three flocks 

 show that I raised 94 per cent, cockerels 

 crowing when 29 days old, and pullets lay- 

 ing when 4 months and 18 days old. 



I breed the English (or penciled) variety 

 of the Indian Runner duck, of which I 

 raised 97 per cent. They hatched .Tune 6 ; 

 and up to dale, Jan. 18, they have given me 

 234 white-shelled eggs. Notice I said shell- 

 ed, as some duck eggs sometimes have a 

 dull dirty gloss which, when immersed in 

 water, may be slippery or mucus-like, and 

 which must be washed off in order to have 

 the really beautiful white egg. See what 

 A. I. Root says on p. 447, .July 15. I do not 

 expect that they will continue to lay, as we 

 have been having very cold weather for 

 three weeks. Before that, the weather was 

 good for fall laying. 



As to poultry-raising and bee-keeping go- 

 ing together, I will say that, so far as the 

 most important factor, the man, is con- 

 cerned, they agree well, for both pursuits 

 require patience, persistence, and some en- 

 thusiasm. On nothing does success de- 

 pend more than on the man who is among 

 the bees and hens, and who cares for them. 

 It is important that a beginner start in a 

 small way with good stock, and increase as 

 he can profitably handle more, all the time 

 realizing that it is the man which is on tri- 

 al, and not the bee nor poultry business, as 

 both have been tried. And do not take up 

 another branch if you have enough already. 

 Do not go into any business deeper than it 

 will allow you time enough to do some good 

 sound common-sense thinking; for a lack 

 of this is the cause of most failure, and will 



