JULY 1, 1912 



427 



in one of the unoccupied yards. These 

 j^ards are furnished with food, drink, grit, 

 shells, etc., like all the others. Each yard is 

 exactly like every other yard. If this hen 

 Avants to sit on a particular nest in one 

 yard, just give her a setting of eggs in the 

 same nest in a vacant yaixl. If she does not 

 stay on the nest Avhen you put her there, 

 never mind. She will soon go right back to 

 it, because it is exactly like the nest which 

 she wanted to sit on in the other yard. In 

 tliis way you can put any number of sitting- 

 hens in one Aacant yard. Or if there are 

 half a dozen of them, have a second yard 

 for sitting hens. You will notice that the 

 sitting hens with this equipment would have 

 all the liberty of a stolen nest on the aver- 

 age farm. They are outdoors, under natu- 

 ral conditions ; and yet they will get back to 

 their nest every time, because it will be to 

 them practically the very nest where they 

 sto/rted to sit. 



Now, j^ou need not say this arrangement 

 is only a beautiful theory. Friend Stod- 

 dard has got it running, and says it works 

 all right. I hardly need remind you that 



Fig. 5 shows the feed-hopper that I prefer. It is 

 a large-sized galvanized tub. The wire cloth that 

 separates the yards goes clear down to the bottom of 

 the Xxih. This tub is placed just midway in the uest- 

 boxes — half of the nests on one yard, and half in 

 the other. The tub should be large enough so the 

 hens can get in and get the feed. No fowls are to 

 be permitted under any circumstances to roost in or 

 about the nest-boxes. You will notice by Fig. 2 that 

 their roosting-houses are a separate affair from the 

 nest-boxes. We want to take every possible pains to 

 have our eggs fresh and clean, without the neces- 

 sity of washing them; and I think I can manage 

 with the above arrangement so no droppings will 

 be found in or about the nest. After several win- 

 ters' experience, I notice that my hens seldom or 

 never void their droppings while they are in the tub 

 of feed. They seem to have at least a little sense of 

 the "fitness" of things when they have a fair chance. 



the greatest obstacle in the way of conduct- 

 ing a successful pouhry-farm,'or any other 

 kind of farm for that matter, is the expense 

 of competent help. This up-to-date egg- 

 fai'm I have been describing, when every 

 thing else is fixed just right, should all be 

 easily managed by one person, or, I think, 

 by any average boy or girl who loves chick- 

 ens. If the wagon draws in the grain and 

 draws away the eggs, and you have a wind- 

 mill or a sj-tring to furnish the running wa- 

 ter, tliere is \evy little fatiguing work to be 

 done. Of course, the same arrangement will 

 work all right with ducks; and, better still, 

 because the fences to restrain the ducks need 

 be only two feet high; and the Indian Run- 

 ners would travel half a mile, or more, if 

 need be, to get to running water, and they 

 will come back every night where they are 

 fed to be shut up until they have laid their 

 eggs. 



If chickens are wanted after dark, for the 

 market, or for any purpose, their roosting- 

 places are all together. In fact, your 600 

 hens can all be under one roof, if need be. 

 Do you suggest that this would be a bad ar- 

 rangement if contagious diseases get among 

 the flock ? Yes, it might be a little bad ; but 

 with very little effort you can arrange to 

 have them roost, and jDerhaps lay their eggs 

 also, at a little distance from any other 

 flock; but with proper precaution, such as 

 I have outlined, I believe there is little or 

 no need of having either vermin or conta- 

 gious diseases. A successful egg-farm, if I 

 am correct, does not have an}^ thing of the 

 sort. 



One more thing. Every little while we 

 hear of a poultry establishment getting afire 

 and burning up a lot of chickens. I visited 

 a place ten days ago where a brooder-house 

 caught fire, resulting in the loss of some- 

 thing like a thousand chickens. Now, if 

 you are either in Texas or Florida, you can 

 have your shelter and every thing else made 

 of galvanized iron so there will be nothing 

 to burn, and no harbor for insects. If you 

 are going to use incubators I would Imve 

 them in a cement cellar under the granary; 

 and I think I would have this granary also 

 made of galvanized iron so thei'e will be 

 nothing to catch afii-e and burn up. We 

 ha\e corncribs here in the North — in fact, 

 we have one on our place here in ]\ledina — 

 made entirely of galvanized iron tliat keeps 

 both seed corn and buckwheat beautifully. 

 It is all made of cement and perforated 

 iron. There is not a thing about it of wood. 

 If you have electric lights in your vicinity 

 I would have the whole establisJiment light- 

 ed by electricity. 



Finally, dear friends, I am just now anx- 



