202 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



rying them for another ten months. I 

 would advise you to sell as broilers all 

 the young males you do not wish to keep 

 for breeders. This will give you more 

 room for the pullets and you need space 

 to have your pullets develop well for 

 the fall and winter egg market. Capons 

 are, undoubtedly, money-makers for 

 those who have plenty of space, and 

 where food is cheaper than it is here 

 this year. Personally, I found that ca- 

 pons did not pay as well as roasters. 

 These were young roosters that were 

 about eight months old and that I milk 

 fed. I found I had to keep my young 

 males until I could see how they would 

 develop. I began by caponizing, but be- 

 ing economically inclined, I found the 

 milk - fed, uncaponized, eight - months 

 youngsters paid me best. Since then the 

 market for capons has improved here, 

 and if you had more room and could 

 buy up young cockerels, caponize them 

 at about three months of age and turn 

 them off in the following spring, just 

 when turkeys go out, you might make 

 some profit on them. It has been found 

 that the Brahmas or crosses of the 

 Brahmas are the best for capons . 



FROM FAR AWAY ALASKA Commenc- 

 ing with the first of March for the last 

 three years my chickens begin to lose 

 their feathers in front of their neck. I 

 feed them wheat, corn, shorts, cooked 

 potatoes and cabbage. They have no 

 lice. I also give them plenty of char- 

 coal and grit. I have a chicken house 

 30 x 30, logs with moss between, lined 

 inside with shakes. I also keep fire in 

 a stove to keep out dampness. H. C. C., 

 Sumdum, Alaska. 



Answer Not knowing your climate, 

 scarcely like to venture an opinion about 

 the reason for your hens losing their 

 feathers. Your rations seem good, all 

 except there is no animal food in it. I 

 think you should give them fish with 

 their cooked potatoes. Do not feel 

 alarmed about them losing their feath- 

 ers, as it may be on account of the cli- 

 mate. 



TECHNICAL NAMES Will you please 



*ell me how old "friers," "broilers" and 



.prings" are? When is it safe to feed 



wheat and mash to chicks? Mrs. M. N. 



Answer It is not by the age that we 

 decide upon the size of the chickens, or 

 their names. "Squab broilers" weigh 

 one pound and are usually from a small 

 breed, fattened as quickly as possible, 



the age being about six or seven weeks. 

 "Broilers" weigh from one to two 

 pounds, the age being about eight 

 weeks. "Friers" weigh from one pound 

 to two and a half pounds ; age, about 

 ten weeks. Young "roasters" from two 

 and a half to three or four pounds, age 

 about three months. 



Feed the wheat to chicks as soon as 

 they will eat it, commencing to add it 

 to the chick feed. I commence also to 

 add kaffir corn at the same time. Some 

 chickens will eat it earlier than others ; 

 mine, a large breed, usually will take it 

 at three weeks. 



HENPECKED HUSBANDS I cannot keep 

 my hens from picking the combs of the 

 roosters. Could you tell me the reason 

 for it? Also a remedy for it? I have 

 tried everything I know for it. I feed 

 meat twice a week. R. M. 



Answer This habit or vice usually 

 comes from a lack of green food or meat 

 in the ration. Very often trie habit is 

 acquired by imitation and thus it may 

 be introduced into a flock by a new 

 bird which had contracted it elsewhere, 

 or it is spread through the flock from 

 a bird which is led to it by indigestion 

 or other disease of the stomach. It is 

 sometimes started by lice. The hen sees 

 one crawling on her mate's comb and 

 tries to peck at it, wounds the comb, 

 tastes the warm sweet blood and keeps 

 up the habit. The others imitate her 

 until the poor henpecked husband is in 

 a sorry plight. The preventive is plenty 

 of green food, plenty of exercise and 

 animal food. The cure, the hatchet for 

 the worst hens, or if they are too valu- 

 able, let them run without the male 

 bird, only admitting him to the pen for 

 an hour a day in the afternoon. 'Give 

 the hens a good run in a grass-covered 

 yard. Feed plenty of green vegetables; 

 onions chopped are particularly effica- 

 cious. If the yard is small, prepare a 

 scratching shed, covering the floor deep- 

 ly with straw and scatter grain in the 

 straw for the morning meal, so the 

 fowls will be compelled to scratch and 

 work to find it. Add bicarbonate of soda 

 to the drinking water in the proportion 

 of about 20 grains to the quart; put a 

 small quantity of salt in the food, or nail 

 up a piece of salt pork for the hens to 

 peck. 



PAINTING BROODERS Will you kindly 

 tell me if painting the brooder on the 



