Hubbard's poultry secrets. 17 



grow up on legs too much, and they do not feather out equal 

 to the chickens which are hatched by a hen. The incubator 

 is all right and the brooder is all right for the poultry man 

 that wants to raise a large number of chickens, but if you are 

 breeding fancy poultry, my advice is to let the other fellow 

 use the incubator and brooder, and you stand by nature and 

 nature will stand by you. We should always remember one 

 thing and that is, that we can assist nature but we can't beat it. 

 I can set twenty hens at one time. Each hen has a sepa- 

 rate pen, each pen is 4 feet long and 18 inches wide. I use 

 wire for partition with the exception of the end where I use 

 a board 10 inches high and 18 inches from the back of each 

 pen. I nail one slat on each board. It is necessary to have a 

 separate board 10 inches high and one which is the length of 

 each yard to hold them in place. For the bottom of each nest, 

 I use about 4 to 5 inches of sawdust which is wet down with 

 tobacco water. This liquid is made one pound of tobacco 

 dust to one gallon of boiling water. Over the wet sawdust, 

 put enough fine hay to fill the nest box even with the top of 

 the loinch board, and pack down solid. Form a nest with your 

 hand. When this is done, take a handful of dry tobacco dust 

 and sprinkle it over the top. Pat the hay with your hand so 

 that the tobacco dust will sift down through the hay. You 

 now have a nest in which a sitting hen can take comfort, one 

 that contains plenty of moisture, and one that will be free from 

 lice and mites, which ruin so many hatches. With a nest 18 

 inches square, you still have a floor space 18x30. There should 

 be a pail of road dust in each pen so the hens can dust them- 

 selves in it. Their feed and water should not be put in the 

 yards. Cut a four-inch square opening in the end board of 

 the pen and place a pan of water and feed in front of the 

 opening. This is very convenient to feed and water sitting 

 hens. 



