812 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aril. 



Now, unless I am very much mistaken, 

 you who undertake to keep poultry will, un- 

 less you are naturally given to doing every 

 thing well, experience many disappoint- 

 ments. Any one who is in the liabit of say- 

 ing, "■ There, I think that will do well 

 enough," or, ''Well, that is a little risky, 

 but I guess it will have to answer," and 

 such like expressions, will surely meet with 

 disappointments and losses that Avill spoil 

 all the profit. When I was a boy, and had 

 nothing on my mind but my poultry, I used 

 to succeed right along. I remember dis- 

 tinctly of setting a large white Shanghai 

 hen on fifteen eggs, and getting thirteen 

 live chickens, and I believe all were raised. 

 Shall I tell you a little of how I have man- 

 aged since I have got grown upV Well, I 

 have set four hens this year, and the result 

 is only four chickens. The failure in each 

 case was because too many other things 

 were on my mind, and I couldn't give the 

 hens the thorough care and attention they 

 needed. Tlie first attempt, thirteen eggs 

 produced one chicken. I overdid the matter 

 by providing food for my sitting hen, so she 

 never needed to come off from her nest at 

 all. I didn't let nature liave her own way. 

 The next time, I took a smaller-sized hen, 

 gave her eleven eggs, but took her off the 

 nest regularly every day for food and re- 

 freshment, and gave her a nice place to 

 wallow in the dust. She hatched out six 

 chicks from the eleven eggs. The next time, 

 a neighbor kindly offered to let me have a 

 hen that wanted to sit, when none of mine 

 would. To save trouble, I carried the eggs 

 to my neighbor's poultry-house. Well, dur- 

 ing the big snowstorm the fowls were fas- 

 tened in by the snow, without food. AVHien 

 they could do no better they all turned upon 

 the sitting hen and broke and devoured a 

 part of her eggs, so I got only twcF chickens. 

 The last time, a Brahma hen was allowed to 

 sit ; but a pair of Pekin ducks were left in 

 the same yard, thinking they would do no 

 harm. Now, although the ducks had plenty 

 of food— corn, wheat, cabbage, and refuse 

 from the table, they got to persecuting this 

 sitting hen and broke all of her eggs but 

 about three, before I knew it. A few days 

 ago somebody broke a pane of glass out of 

 the door of the greenhouse. They were go- 

 ing to repair the damage, but I told them 

 that, during this warm April weather, it 

 might just as well be left out. A cat got in 

 at night, ate one chicken and killed two 

 more, so I have only four left. Well, these 

 disappointments were the consequences of 



lack of care, and letting things go in a sort 

 of slipshod Avay. Now, I am going to raise 

 a lot of Brahma chickens, just to prove that 

 I can do it. The Brahmas are to have a 

 yard by themselves. No ducks nor rabbits 

 are to intrude ; and when a hen wants to sit 

 she is going to be allowed to do so in the 

 good old-fashioned way, without annoyance 

 from other fowls or other animals. Tlie 

 young chickens are to be protected by poul- 

 try-netting so no cats nor other enemies can 

 possibly get at tiiem. And this reminds me 

 that mishaps and disappointments often 

 happen because a gate or door is left open, 

 and then something happens. Dear friends, 

 accidents rarely happen unless some piece of 

 carelessness permits them to happen. We 

 are in the habit of speaking of some people 

 as lucky, and others as unlucky. Now, I 

 am sure anybody can be lucky with garden 

 stuff or poultry if he tries hard enough ; and 

 if he does not try hard enough, he will sure- 

 ly be unlucky. A friend of mine (and she is 

 a woman — I hope my lady readers will 

 excuse me) succeeded in getting thirty-one 

 chickens hatched by three hens, and thirty 

 out of that number are now alive and doing 

 nicely. Was it luck? No. It was simply 

 good liard common sense and faithful care. 

 There is no excellence without great labor. 



On next page is a cut of the poultry-house 

 I have often referred to, and which was made 

 according to my own notion. The s )uth 

 roof and the south side are all glass, as you 

 will notice, and I liad it made in this way 

 because I had noticed how nicely chickens 

 did in a greenhouse. 



The glass feature I like very much indeed. 

 During some of the severest cold weather 

 last winter, the fowls were cackling and 

 scratching, and enjoying themselves in the 

 full blaze of the noonday sun, even though 

 the temperature was far below zero outside, 

 and that, too, without any heat except tlie 

 heat of the sun combined with the heat 

 from their bodies. The body of the house 

 containing the glass is 10 x 14 feet. The Avings 

 are exactly alike, and are 8x9 feet. They 

 are both open towards the south, as you will 

 notice. The eaves come down within 4 feet 

 of the ground, so that you have to stoop a 

 little when you go under. My reason for 

 making them so low was to admit the sun, 

 but exclude cold storms as much as possible. 

 Unless the weather is very severe, the fowls 

 will be found occupying one or the other of 

 these sheds almost every sunny day. In the 

 morning the sun pours directly into the shed 

 at the right ; and in the afternoon the same 



