Il6 The Business Hen. 



His object is to save the expense of fencing and the "waiting on the 

 hens" that is necessary when they are yarded. We get a good idea of his 

 methods from his story. As between this plan and those followed by 

 Mr. Cosgrove and Mr. Wyckoff there are arguments on both sides. 

 Mapes saves the cost of fences, and in Summer the hens pick up nearly 

 40 per cent of their ration. One man, in Summer, can care for three times 

 as many hens on this colony plan as he can when all are yarded. The 

 great advantage of the yarding plan comes in Winter. It is a hard 

 cold job to travel through deep snow to feed the hens in colony houses. 

 The yard plan, with hens crowded together, is much better for the pro- 

 duction of Winter eggs, which bring the highest price. It is not always 

 true that the egg which brings the highest price per dozen is the most 

 profitable egg, for it may cost too much to produce it. There is good profit 

 in the Summer egg, even at a low price. The colony plan does not give as 

 good a chance for selecting and breeding the best stock for breeders. In 

 order to do that properly we must have some form of yard where the 

 breeders can be kept by themselves. Mr. Mapes has been very succcess- 

 ful with his hens, and his experience adds to the proof that a man who has 

 "hen in his heart" can make poultry pay under any circumstances, tor 

 example, Mr. Hayward, of New Hampshire, makes his hens pay under 

 conditions which most people would at first thought say are impossible. 

 A brief outline of Mr. Hayward's plan is given on page 67 with a 

 picture of one of his little houses. His 9,000 hens are kept in these little 

 coops from the day they arrive as pullets till they are sold the next year 

 as hens. The pullets are all bought from farmers, and are of no special 

 breed. It is a hen-feeding farm, and the hens give an average profit of 

 nearly one dollar each in spite of their close confinement. We cannot 

 advise any such system for the average farmer, but it shows again how a 

 careful man can take some breed of poultry and adapt it to any reasonable 

 condition. 



WITH A GARDEN.— Mr. Hartman tells us on page 73 how his hens 

 provide Winter work on a truck farm. The experience of Alfred Johnson, 

 of New Jersey, shows another side of poultry keeping. Mr. Johnson was 

 a jeweler by trade. His eyes gave out, and instead of trying to find 

 another job in town he bought 18 acres of land not far from Paterson, N. 

 J., running in debt for the place. He studied his farm, and finally decided 

 to make hens and strawberries his chief crops, with such other vegetables 

 and fruits as would go with them. After 12 years work he sold in one 

 year from his 18 acres $4,137.62 worth of produce. The 400 hens con- 

 tributed nearly $800 worth of this in eggs, and also provided a good share 

 of the fertilizer for the fruit. Of course, these hens were housed and fed 

 with great care. They were kept clean and healthy. They are, of course, 

 yarded since it would be impossible to give poultry a free run on a small 



