58 



THE LEGHORNS 



Exhibition Leghorns Best Layers 



Staiulard-bred or exhibition White Leghorns make 

 the best layers because they are the result of years of 

 careful selection and breeding to attain the length of body, 

 (icpth of keel and legs set well apart that form the proper 

 frame for big layers. This, in addition to the fact that 

 very little fat forming foods for years have been fed to 

 our Leghorns, account for their superiority as egg pro- 

 ducers over the smaller, shorter bodied type of twenty- 

 five to thirty years ago. 



Feeding and Housing Leghorns 

 On the proper feeding of White Leghorns largely 

 depends the success of the breeder in the show room and 

 the profit he realizes from 

 the eggs produced. I start 

 chicks with Spiatt's chick 

 food, containing plenty of 

 protein. This is dampened 

 slightly and fed alternately 

 with Cyphers chick food 

 five times a day and con- 

 tinue these two foods until 

 chicks are about six weeks 

 of age. After that we feed 

 a mixed grain ration made 

 up as follows: One part 

 wheat, one part oat groats, 

 one part barley groats, and 

 one part cracked white 

 corn three times a day. 

 The hoppers we keep filled 

 with meat scraps and bran. 

 The chickens have plenty 

 of free range, which pro- 

 vides abundant vegetable 

 food. The laying hens are 

 fed as follows: First feed 

 in litter at daylight con- 

 sists of, one part wheat, 

 two parts slipped oats, one 

 part white corn, one part 

 barley, and one part golden 

 millet. The night feed is 

 given at 4 P. M., and is the 

 same as in the morning. 

 At noon we throw oats and 

 millet, about a handful for 

 every four hens, in the lit- 

 ter. In the hoppers we use 

 a dry mash consisting of 

 one part ground oats, one 



part wheat bran, one part wheat middlings, one-half part 

 oil meal, one part of beef scraps, and two parts cut alfalfa. 

 These hoppers are left open for one hour each day at 

 noon. In addition the fowls have access to pure water. 

 charcoal, oyster shells, grit, and vegetables at all times. 



Houses and Yards for Leghorns 

 My houses are twelve feet square, ceiled with one 

 inch North Carolina pine. Roofing paper is placed on 

 either side of the studding and rafters, forming a four 

 inch air space. The floors are made of concrete, 3x4 inch 

 floor beams being laid and the latter covered with spruce 

 flooring. This prevents dampness and is proof against 

 weasels, rats, minks and mice. We never keep over fifteen 

 females to one male in one of these rooms, as we can get 

 better results and more eggs of a higher fertility from 



'V0«)EI)6Y?\VYoUN^j 



A typical Wliite Leghorn cock in shape and carriage, 

 forming closely to the Standard description in both bacl! 

 tail sections, the tail being well spread and carried at an 

 that finds favor with White Leghorn breeders of today. 



this number than by doubling the number m the same 

 space. The floor of each house is covered with about one 

 inch of coarse building sand or fine gravel on which about 

 eight inches of cut dry straw for litter is placed. The 

 latter is thrown back once a week and the floor raked 

 and cleaned. The roosts are made of 2x4 hemlock joists, 

 planed smooth and the corners rounded, placed eight 

 inches above the droppings platform, the latter being 

 three feet wide and two and one-half feet from the floor 

 with a three inch shingle lath on the front and back to 

 keep in the sand, with v.-hich it is filled, in its place. This 

 is cleaned every morning before daylight the year around, 

 so that the birds can use it as a dust bath, which makes a 

 great saving of floor space. The houses are white-washed 

 twice a year and the latest 

 approved sanitary methods 

 are carefully applied to in- 

 sure the health of the fowls. 



Preparing for the Show 



White Leghorns which 

 have been properly housed 

 and fed as outlined above, 

 require little of extra prepar- 

 ation for the showroom, ex- 

 cept washing. C)ur method 

 of washing is as follows: 



After contining the 

 bird in an exhibition coop 

 for three or four days, in 

 order to accustom him to 

 confinement, I take a basin 

 of hot water and soap, and 

 sc.ub with a nail brush his 

 head, comb, legs and feet 

 thoroughly. Next take five 

 tubs of soft water, the first 

 being heated to a tempera- 

 ture of about 110 degrees, 

 .Submerge the bird, head 

 and all in this tub. .'\fter 

 the feathers are soaked 

 through to the skin. I take 

 a cake of Ivory soap and 

 rub it well into the feathers 

 until a lather is formed. Am 

 not afraid of using too much 

 soap. After I am sure the 

 bird is clean, I rinse ofif as 

 much of the suds as possible 

 in this water. Xe.xt the bird 

 is put in tub number 

 two. which water is heated to about 90 degrees, and rinsed 

 well in this. Then put in tub number three, the same 

 temperature, and rinse carefully in this water. Next 

 place in tub number four, same temperature, then in 

 tub number five, which is cold and blued a little more than 

 is ordinarily used for laundry work. After taking bird 

 out of the last tub, he is placed in a room heated to about 

 90 degrees, in a training coop tbout three feet square, with 

 clean cut straw or shavings for litter, being very careful 

 to keep it clean so that the feathers will not become 

 soiled. Of course, it pays to look after the birds while . 

 they are drying as the feathers are liable to become 

 twisted, especially the sickle feathers of the male birds. 

 In about twenty-four hours after this is done the plumage 

 will be in perfect shape and the bird, if he is white nat- 

 urally, will be perfectly clean and as white as i::.;-.v. 



