MARCH 15, 1914 



L37 



my good friend, why not hang your slate 

 right outside of the tent at noon, where the 

 sun can shine on it? " They said it would 

 not work(f) that way. Well, any thing that 



will not work and stand the full light of 

 day is a good thing to avoid. The great 

 Master said, " In secret have 1 done noth- 

 ing." 



Poultry Department 



.\1V •• SE'ITING hen" STORY^ ETC. 



Iij our issue for Jan. 1 1 told you some- 

 thing ahout ray flock of about 50 pullets, a 

 cross between the Leghorn and Buttercups; 

 and I have before mentioned that this cross 

 gave us birds of all colors imaginable. Well, 

 the colors are not all of it. There are two 

 or three hens in the lot with feathers turned 

 inside out — the curve being outward instead 

 of inward, and, in fact, 1 don't need " leg- 

 bands," for there are almost no two hens at 

 all alike in the whole 50. And even this 

 isn't all of the result of such a cross. Both 

 Leghorns and Buttercups are non sitters; 

 but when I got here, about Nov. 8, I found 

 two hens that were just determined to sit. 

 In order to get roosters big enough to sell 

 in our market (they won't buy them here 

 unless they are close to 3 lbs.), I decided to 

 let both sit as soon as I could get eggs 

 enough. How long did it lake to get 15 

 eggs? Just four days; so one hen was set 

 Nov. 12, and before we could spare 15 for 

 the other it was Nov. 17. I tell you this to 

 let you see how my egg yield started in 

 November with pullets, some of them nearlv 

 a year old. The 30 eggs, when tested on 

 the third day, were all fertile but one, and 

 the two hens gave me 29 good strong chicks. 

 At this date, Feb. 12, both have weaned 

 their chicks — ^one 14 and the other 13. Just 

 a word about this excellent fertility. 



I have had a notion that the male serves 

 only the laying hens — that is, where there 

 are plenty of hens. We have two young 

 roosters with the 50, and one four-year-old 

 full-blood Buttercup, male. I have searched 

 poultry journals and books, but have never 

 seen the matter treated of; but you have all 

 doubtless noticed that, as soon as a hen 

 r-oraes off the nest cackling, there is a rivalry 

 among the males as to who will serve her 

 first. Is this one reason for the cackling? 

 If I am right, it is not at all strange that 

 ray eggs in November were almost all fertile. 

 Later I gave one of the Rhode Island Red 

 h.ens 20 egg's, and she hatched 19 chicks. 



Let us now go back to the two sitting 

 hens. Both of their ancestors were non-sit- 

 ters; and Aviien they did occasionally act 

 like sitting, taking away the nest eggs usu- 

 ally cured them. Not so here. T have seen 

 hens determined to sit before, but none like 

 one of these. Another hen had been laying 



in tJie nest, so I made a pencil-mark around 

 each egg, and planned to remove all eggs 

 that might be laid in with them. She bit 

 and scratched my hands so badly 1 bought a 

 cheap pair of cotton gloves; but when my 

 hands were covered she flew in my face and 

 made me look as if / {A. I. Root) had been 

 in a fight, so I dropped her in a box right 

 under the nest and put my foot over it until 

 I could see if all her eggs were pencil-mark- 

 ed. This did all right for a few times, until, 

 instead of going on the nest when released, 

 she flew in my face again. To head her off, 

 as soon as I removed my foot I slipped out 

 of the nearby barn door and closed it after 

 me. This worked all right fcr a few days; 

 but she soon demonstrated that a determined 

 young sitting hen is quicker on a run than 

 her 74-year-old " boss." She would slip out 

 of thodoor before I could get out and close 

 it; and then chased me half way to the 

 house* Was there some game blood in the 

 ancestry of the Buttercup or Leghorn that 

 cropped out when I crossed the two? She 

 made a most excellent mother. No cat or 

 dog even looked toward her chicks the sec- 

 ond time. She and I became excellent 

 friends when we " understood " each other. 

 Let me mention just one m.ore " sport " of 

 these cross-breds. 



Som.e of them have great drooping red 

 combs hiding one eye. like the Spanish and 

 Minorcas ; others have Buttercup comb, and 

 still others no comb at all. There is one jet- 

 black pullet, with no comb at all, that has a 

 nest in a square can, " all her oAvn," that 

 has laid almost every day since she com- 

 menced in November, and she has the most 

 fascinating musical cackle I ever heard. It 

 gives me a, " thrill " every time I hear it. It 

 says to me, " Rejoice and be glad," exactly 

 as Pollyanna puts it. 



Tliis winter I haven't bouglit a pound of 

 " chick feed." It costs too much, and there 

 is always a lot of stuff in it the chicks won't 

 eat. I give them " bread and milk " until 

 they are old enough to eat wheat. There is 

 no waste with bread and milk, and I think 

 they groAv faster than on any other diet, and 

 this reminds me I want to say a few words 

 more about that divergent poultry ranch. 

 .Just recall to mind the granary and feed- 



* She didn't go " on foot " when she chased me 

 either — not much! 



