CHAPTER II. 

 The Scrub Hen Turned to Business. 



By "scrub" is meant the hen that runs in the barnyard, roosts in a 

 tree in Summer, and either in the barn or in some broken henhouse in 

 Winter. She is usually of no particular breed. She leaves her mark over 

 the machinery, scratches up the garden, when there is any, and keeps busy 

 generally. She is not fed regularly. Sometimes the farmer throws out 

 a little corn, or the women save some table scraps from dog or cat, but 

 the hen lives for the most part on what she can pick up around the barn 

 and yard ; clover chaff, grain dropped by the stock, anything that her sharp 

 eyes can find. In Summer, when insects abound, the scrub hen balances 

 her ration better than a chemist could do it for her. A grain of corn, a 

 bug, a blade of grass, a nip out of a ripe tomato, a worm or a bit of 

 ground feed that the horse dropped out of his mouth, fill the scrub hen's 

 crop to overflowing. When lice worry her she rolls in the dust and 

 deserts her so-called house. She can usually clear herself of all but head 

 lice in this way. Roup and cholera trouble her little — her outdoor life keeps 

 her strong and well. She has the reputation of being a mighty layer, 

 because she does about all her laying in the Spring and early Summer, and 

 makes a big fuss about is. She rarely lays 50 eggs during the year. No one 

 keeps her record. Without care she will go back' to the condition of her an- 

 cestors, who only laid eggs enough to fill a nest, like the other wild birds. 

 She finds her own nest, for those man fixes for her are not to her taste. 

 Sometimes she sits on her eggs for several days before they are picked up, 

 regardless of the fact that before two days of incubation are over the 

 heart of the little chick inside the egg can be plainly seen. The scrub 

 hen is not responsible for the fact that thousands of such eggs are sent to 

 market to disgust those who ought to buy more eggs ! During the Winter 

 the scrub hen quits, and gives a fair imitation of a woodchuck living on 

 his fat. No one can blame her! She has all she can do to keep life in 

 her body, to say nothing of laying eggs ! Many of these scrub hens would, 

 if they had the chance, rank well as layers, with some of the purebreds, 

 but what can a hen do without a chance? 



In spite of all, many of these flocks of scrub hens are profitable. It 

 costs little or nothing to feed them in Summer, and the eggs they lay and 

 the meat they furnish are nearly all clear gain. They usually deprive the 

 family of a good garden, for few men who will not care for a flock of 

 poultry will ever build a ^ fence that will keep them out of the garden. 

 Through the Winter they are usually an expense and little more. The 



