122 The Business Hen. 



they will eat Potato beetles, Army worms and even chinch bugs. In 

 tobacco and cotton fields overrun with grass geese have been used to 

 help weed the crop. They will eat a fair share of the grass and leave tht 

 cotton and tobacco. 



TRAINING AN EGG EATER.— A man sees an empty orange crate 

 in the village store, and says to the grocer: "Give me that, will you? It's 

 just what I want for a couple of hen's nests." He takes it home and nails 

 it up in the henhouse, putting two inches or so of straw in the bottom. 

 The hens like that nest and lay six or eight eggs in it; the ne.xt hen that 

 jumps down into the nest is a heavy one, and her toe smashes an egg. As 

 she turns to cuddle the eggs under her she sees the most delicious morsel 

 that a hen has ever tasted, plunges her beak into it and greedily sucks it 

 up ; then eats the shell and begins to scratch to get the last particle of it, 

 throwing the eggs against the side of the box and perhaps breaking 

 another, which is also eaten. Next day she goes to scratching again in 

 the nest, remembering what a treat she found there, and breaks another 

 egg, and now your confirmed egg eater is formed. The remedy, in the 

 case of that hen, is to cut off her head. But prevention is much better; 

 have no nest that a hen has to jump down into. Fill all nests to within four 

 inches of top, so the hens can step from the edge into the nest, and the 

 liability of having egg eaters in the flock will be very much lessened. 



POULTRY PESTS. — Hawks capture many chicks. A good marksman 

 can kill a few and hang them on poles about the yards. A southern 

 remedy is to mix strychnine in molasses and rub a little on the top of 

 each small chicken. The hawk is supposed to poison himself while eating 

 the chick ! Guinea hens alarm the neighborhood when hawks are near. 

 The best remedy is to keep the little chicks in covered runs until they 

 are large enough to run for shelter. It is well to have low-growing shrubs 

 about where the chicks can hide. Cats have caused us great damage, 

 which we have mostly avoided by keeping the little birds in covered yards. 

 If pigs run in the field with the chicks they must be carefully watched. If 

 a pig once gets a taste of chicken he will chase the birds constantly. Rats 

 and larger wild animals, like minks, are sworn enemies of little chicks. 

 They can only be kept out of the brooders by making them rat-proof, lifted 

 above the ground with no chance for the rat to climb. Cement floors and 

 stone foundations are particularly useful in poultry houses, because the 

 rats cannot work into them. In some cases rats congregate in the barn in 

 great numbers, and cats and traps are powerless to keep them down. In 

 such cases poisons are used. A cake made of cornmeal and bran, with 

 a quantity of white arsenic mixed in, is baked much the same as a biscuit, 

 and crumbs of it are scattered about the building. It usually does the 

 business, but the hens must be shut up and the cats and other domestic 

 animals kept away from the barn while this poison is about. 



