Dec. 1, 1911 



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FORECASTING THE LAYING HEN — SEE SPE- 

 CIAL NOTICES IN OUR NOV. IST ISSUE. 



AVell, my laying hen kept on laying, some- 

 thing as I described about forecasting, until 

 we had some severe stormy weather. Then 

 she commenced laying every other day, in- 

 stead of two eggs and a skip. Then she 

 skipped three days, not laying at all. But 

 Nov. 6 the weather moderated considerably, 

 and she laid one more egg about 10 a.m. 



Suiuming up the whole matter as the ex- 

 periment stations do, this hen did lay ac- 

 cording to the forecasting something like 

 two weeks, two eggs and a skip, two more 

 and a skip, and so on. Now, she may have 

 been doing this some little time before I 

 took notice. There are two reasons that 

 may be put forward why she did not keep 

 on according to the rule for forecasting; 

 namely, the cold stormy weather I have 

 spoken of, and that my whole .flock are, 

 most of them, in heavy moulting. I have 

 not watched long enough to be certain she 

 had finished moulting or had not commenc- 

 ed. Here at my Florida home I purpose 

 making some careful experiments with 

 quite a number of my best layers. It would 

 seem pretty clear that ducks do not follow 

 this program, for the 100 eggs 1 got last win- 

 ter from a single duck were all laid in the 

 morning, either before daylight or pretty 

 soon after. My relative, Mell Pritchard — 

 you know he is quite a chicken man — in- 

 formed me that he once had a turkey that 

 laid from sixty to seventy eggs consecutive- 

 ly, so far as he can recall, absolutely with- 

 out a skip. Mow, are chickens molded on a 

 different plan from ducks and turkeys? I 

 am sure it will be a benefit all around to 

 have this matter thoroughly investigated 

 by a number of observers. The better we 

 get acquainted with our biddies, the sooner 

 we shall be able to furnish a hen that will 

 lay 300 eggs in a year, or something like it. 



FORECASTING THE LAYI3SIG HEN, ETC. 



Mr. Hoot: — Hens do not follow a fashion of laying 

 an egg every so many hours. If you have not ac- 

 cess to trap-nest records I will send you some leaves 

 from mine so you may see for yourself. I have 

 been breeding Barred Rocks for fifteen years for 

 egg production, using trap nests: and while it is 

 true that a pullet that starts out laying well is al- 

 most invariably a good layer, they will vary from 

 one egg a day and skipping a day to laying every 

 day for two or sometimes three weeks. I mean 

 that every pullet varies in this manner. You say 

 Mr. Stoddard's article is worth -810.00 to you. Well, 

 It isn't worth 10 cts. to me, because it is only partly 

 true. I agree with Dr. High am, p. 641, Oct. 15. about 

 dosing chickens; but I have used the permangan- 

 ate ever since 1 have kept chickens, using it as a 

 preventive of disease, and I rarely have a sick fowl. 

 When properly and carefully used, it is a valuable 

 remedy. 



Rushmore, Minn. C. E. Boddy. 



739 



But now, my good friend, hold your breath. The 

 next day she would lay two eggs. She worked that 

 way repeatedly. I also had a hen that I believe 

 laid from 250 to 275 eggs per year. I think climate 

 makes a wonderful difference in egg production, 

 and I should not think the 300-egg hen would be a 

 curiosity in that country. 

 Sloan, la., Oct. 27. Lewis Lamkin. 



FORECASTING THE LAYING HEN. 



Seeing your remarks about the time it takes a 

 hen to lay an egg, I would say that, when I was a 

 boy in England, my father had a speckled Ham- 

 burg hen that would lay a little later each day, as 

 you say, until she would miss one day entirely. 



THE FLY AS FOOD FOR POULTRY, ETC. 



3fr. Root: — Several years ago I had some trouble 

 among my chickens, and appealed to the poultry 

 press for aid. I was informed that the disease was 

 commonly known as "timber neck," an intestinal 

 disorder caused by eating putrid meat; but while I 

 had, on previous occasions, allosved them access to 

 meat that was more or less decomposed, at that 

 particular time I was quite sure the chickens had 

 had no meat of any description. My own reason- 

 ing classed the chicken as a scavenger, and hence 

 built to care for such an article of diet ; but I was 

 not in position to contradict such distinguished 

 talent, and I carefully guarded the yards against 

 the trouble. 



The disease still continued, even attacking peeps 

 that had not been out of the brooder, my former 

 opinion being thus confirmed; and as I have lately 

 been feeding maggots (larvse), without a return of 

 the disease, I can fully assure the celebrated phy- 

 sicians among the poultry fraternity that they 

 must seek further for the cause of the malady. 



I obtain from the butcher, at intervals, the lungs 

 of the smaller animals. These are placed in iron 

 vessels, in an unused loft. They are thus out of the 

 way; and as I use only eight or ten at a time, they 

 are not annoying. Flies of many kinds are attract- 

 ed, and deposit their eggs. When hatched, the 

 worm proceeds to devour the meat, and to get fat. 

 When thoroughly ripe I mix the mass with bran, 

 which removes much of its offensive nature, and 

 allows it to be handled easily. 



There are several days after hatching before the 

 worm begins to spin its cocoon. During this time 

 it has no desire to escape, and I have abundant 

 time in which to use the stuff, but am usually 

 ready to use it in the beginning of this later stage, 

 and can not be accu.sed of perpetuating a trouble- 

 some pest. 



When ready the article forms a poultry food that 

 can not be surpassed, and is much cheaper than 

 the food advocated by Briggs at 15 cents per bushel. 

 Being live grubs it is sought eagerly, and eaten by 

 the chickens with a relish. I make no attempt to 

 remove the meat, and have had no trouble of any 

 kind since I began to feed it. It must not be fed on 

 the ground, as this allows the grub a chance to 

 escape. 



The procedure answers a twofold purpose. First, 

 I obtain an excellent article of food. The supply, 

 however, is of a limited nature. Twelve or fifteen 

 lambs' lungs furnish what I give weekly to 150 or 

 200 chickens. Second, as a sort of by-product there 

 is not a fly about my stable, which is directly un- 

 der the loft, and none around my house, which is 

 about 200 feet from the stable. My close neighbors, 

 those within 200 yards, report no flies, while the 

 neighbors at a greater distance report an abun- 

 dance of the little disease-bearing pests; and were 

 one to see the bucketful of grubs carried out by me 

 four or five times each week he would imagine 

 that I had relieved the whole county of flies. 



I am not in position to ascertain definitely wheth- 

 er I am doing a harm, which does not appear; but 

 if not, I am quite sure that I have solved a difficult 

 problem, and a community may be rid of flies by 

 having them breed where the young may be col- 

 lected and destroyed, rather than to allow them to 

 breed in indiscriminate out-of-the-way places just 

 where the young may escape to torture the inhabi- 

 tants, and to spread disease throughout the com- 

 munity. 



Lake Roland, Md. Benjamin B. Jones. 



My good friend, very likely your plan is 

 an excellent one for furnishing chickens an 

 animal food at small expense; and although 

 it may be new to you, almost the same plan 

 was used and described more than sixty 



