1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



343 



Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, nei- 

 ther do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your 

 heavenly Father feedeth them.— Matt. 6:26. 



Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right 

 spirit within me.— Psaxm 51: 10. 



So far in my experiments with poultry 

 reared entirely without shelter, nature's way, 

 or, as I pi'efer to put it, God's way, it seems 

 far ahead of man-made incubators and brood- 

 ers. The chicks hatched under the hen were 

 more robust than those hatched in my 10-lb. 

 incubator: yet in justice to the latter I will 

 say that the most of them now, at about six 

 weeks of age, are very much alike. It was 

 pretty tough for a while for the incubator 

 chicks, especially those hatched a few days 

 later, to keep up with the mother hen in her 

 rambles about the island, especially cool 

 mornings; but in answer to their plaintive 

 peep she rested and brooded them; and with 

 plenty of wheat where they could always find 

 it they soon became strong and robust. 

 There was one chick (from the first egg laid 

 by the White Leghorn pullet) that was al- 

 most a week younger than the rest. He had 

 such a hard time keeping up with ' ' the pro- 

 cession " that I used to pick him up and 

 warm his little toes in my hands. I soon 

 found, however, this would not do, for he 

 followed me instead of the hen, and he got 

 to be quite a nuisance, for none of us want- 

 ed to step on the little bit of down. Some- 

 times I would think I could get away from 

 him by walking very fast or running; then 

 I would look back, and, not seeing any thing 

 of him, conclude he had gone back to the 

 hen; but again and again I would find him 

 just between my feet. It is truly wonderful 

 how they can make those tiny legs spin. 

 For a week or more it seemed as if he would 

 hardly make a live of it, especially after I 

 had stopped "cuddling" him; but yesterday 

 I picked him up and was pleasantly surprised 

 to find him a vigorous, strong-limbed, hand- 

 some fellow, equal to any of them, only a 

 little younger. 



JSow, friends, I know I am treading on 

 ground gone over and over by thousands of 

 experts, yet I give it as my opinion that it 

 will be very hard to invent any plan where- 

 by we can by artificial means give the chicks 

 from an incubator any outdoor exercise fiil- 

 ly equal to what they get in following a hen. 

 She, under God's direction, gives them all 

 the exercise they will Ijear: and when she 

 knows by their plaintive notes they are tired 

 or chilly she gives them the very best rest 

 and warmth the world has ever invented. I 

 know there are great establishments that 

 grow the finest poultry by the thousands, at 

 least they claim they are equal to any, and 



that without hens at all; but I am so incred- 

 ulous that I have planned soon to visit some 

 of the best in the world, and then I will tell 

 you about it. Just now it seems to me the 

 mother hen will, here in this Florida climate, 

 not only do the work better but cheaper, and 

 I have seen chicks reared in brooders at the 

 same time ours here on this island were run- 

 ning wild, or under God's care, as we have 

 it in the first of our texts. I have proved 

 that a hen can take charge of 30 nicely, and 

 I opine she would manage 40 or even more 

 just about as well. Of course, she can not 

 cover so many; but there are always tough 

 ones in every fiock that prefer to stand out- 

 side or run about and not be brooded. As I 

 have said, not a chick was lost that went 

 from the incubator to the hen mother; but 

 when I undertook to make the brooder take 

 the place of the hen I had many disappoint- 

 ments. At one time I had eleven beautiful 

 chicks, some of them over a week old, when 

 one morning the whole lot seemed only sick- 

 ly ghosts of what they had been the day be- 

 fore. Worse still, when the poor little chaps 

 tried to walk several of them seemed, in spite 

 of all they could do, to run backward instead 

 of forward. Mrs. Shumard said, as soon as 

 she saw them, that they smelled of coal oil. 

 Sure enough, during a cool night they had 

 pressed up against the lamp until every 

 chick was pretty well "anointed," and then 

 had tumbled in the dirt and black dust. 

 You may ask what kind of brooder I had. 

 Well, the combined brooder and incubator 

 cost only $6.50, and I was foolish enough to 

 think it might do for my experiments here in 

 this Florida climate. The printed directions 

 said, " Don't be afraid of the chicks interfer- 

 ing with the lamp nor the lamp with them." 

 The lamp was carefully wiped clean the 

 night before when filled, but enough oil got 

 out in some way to kill 8 of the 1] chicks. 

 Let me say, however, to the credit of the 

 10-lb. incubator, that it did hatch the nine- 

 teen nice chicks given the hen, although it 

 required a good deal of supervision when 

 the weather changed suddenly. Since I have 

 tried one of the c/ieapest, I am now daily ex- 

 pecting one of the best small incubators that 

 can be bought, with brooder to match. 



The lamb has, through all ages, been se- 

 lected as a symbol of innocence and inoffen- 

 siveness; but I should place a little chicken 

 at the head of all animated nature as a type 

 of all that is good, pure, and lovable. Not 

 only is there confiding innocence, but there 

 is strength of muscle for such a little body, 

 and life and animation, and, we might al- 

 most say, enthusiasm as well. Watch a 

 strong vigorous chick as it starts out in the 

 morning. If he doesn't enjoy life and thank 

 God for existence I don't know of any ani- 

 mated nature that does. 1 have frightened 

 a chick, not yet out of his shell, almost out 

 of his little senses, and yet he is the easiest 

 animal in the world to give you his confi- 

 dence. In one brief day you can win that 

 little confidence, and hear his plaintive little 

 thanks for warming his little self, or for giv- 

 ing him food and drink when he is a little 



