190 



Popular Science Monthly 



Protecting Flocks from Coyotes by Means of a 

 Gas Lamp "Gun" 



campfire burning brightly. 

 The "gun" does away with 

 this. It will operate for a 

 period of about fourteen hours 

 without refilling. 



w 



Coyotes are afraid of light 

 and flee at the sound of a gun. 

 This gas lamp causes an ex- 

 plosion at regular intervals 

 which is similar to a pistolshot. 

 At the same time the lamp 

 revolves constantly, shed- 

 ding light in every direction 



A 



NOVEL 



gas lamp 

 known as a 

 "coyote" gun 

 is being used 

 extensively by 

 western ranch- 

 men to protect 

 their flocks from 

 the ravages of coy- 

 otes. The device 

 consists of three 

 chambers and a lamp 

 box. In the upper 

 chamber is water which drips into the 

 larger chamber below, filled with calcium 

 carbide. The greater part o^ the gas feeds 

 through a tube to the blaze but a quantity 

 is forced into the third chamber, on the left 

 side, and from there at about one minute 

 intervals it feeds through to the lamp box 

 and causes an explosion similar to a pistol 

 shot. The device is attached to a spring 

 and suspended four or five feet above the 

 ground. The explosions keep the "gun" 

 revolving and throwing the light in every 

 direction. 



Coyotes are afraid of a light and flee at 

 the sound of a gun. In the past it has been 

 the custom of the sheepmen to keep 

 herders on duty all night, firing a gun 

 every few minutes, and keeping a big 



Shipping Day-Old Chicks Is 

 Profitable at Both Ends 

 HEN little chicks come 

 from the shell, they 

 need neither water nor food 

 for sixty hours. That fact 

 has given rise to a new busi- 

 ness. Day-old chicks are 

 sold and shipped by people 

 who operate incubators. 

 Those who buy are relieved of 

 the trouble, of the incon- 

 venience and to some extent 

 of the uncertainty of hatch- 

 ing. Only a small percentage 

 of day-old chicks perish while 

 on the way from shipper to 

 customer. People are thus 

 enabled to get the little chicks 

 and begin the poultry busi- 

 ness without the necessity of 

 purchasing an incubator. 



Special boxes of pasteboard, are made 

 for shipping purposes. Some have a 

 capacity of twenty-five chicks, some of 

 fifty and some of one hundred. It is doubt- 

 less best that no more than twenty-five 

 shall in any case occupy a single compart- 

 ment. The walls of the boxes are mod- 

 erately thick, and some soft material as 

 grass is put in the bottom. Otherwise 

 there are no especial provisions against cold 

 weather. However, the chicks themselves 

 may be depended upon to cluster together 

 and in this way keep one another warm. 



The boxes are not to be opened en route, 

 nor are the chicks to be given food or water. 

 Successful shipments have been made for 

 two thousand miles. 



Special pasteboard 

 boxes are used 



