160 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



Epsom Salts, Purgative Dose 



Epsom salts is one of the most useful drugs we have in combating in- 

 ternal diseases in poultry. An ordinary dose is 20 to 30 grains, administered 

 in water. The dose for different ages, where quick purgative effect is desired, 

 follows : 



Age of Bird. Amt. per Bird. 



1 to 6 weeks 10 grains . . . . 



S to 10 weeks IS grains 



10 to IS weeks 20 grains. . . . 



IS to 26 weeks 30 grains . 



How administered. 



In feed 



In feed 



In feed 



Dissolved in water 



6 to 12 months ; 35 grains Dissolved in water 



1 year and over 40-50 grains Dissolved in water 



One ounce apothecary weight is 480 grains. One ounce is a quick purga- 

 tive dose for 12 mature fowls. An ordinary dose is half this quantity. 



BROODERS 



Will you tell a beginner what kind of 

 brooder you recommend? — Mrs. J. F. Y. 



Answer. — There are a number of good 

 brooders on the market. For a begin- 

 ner I usually advise the kind that bring 

 in fresh warm air. Or else a small 

 house which can be used as a coop for 

 the chickens when they are half grown. 

 There is a very good brooder made here 

 which has a coal oil heater at the back 

 that warms a small hover inside and 

 does well in the coldest weather for 

 about a hundred chickens and the same 

 house or coop can be used by putting in 

 perches when the chicks are old enough 

 to be weaned from the hover. 



At Petaluma many large breeders are 

 taking out all the different pipes for 

 heating and substituting a small stove 

 heated by distillate. This stove stands 

 in the middle or the house, which is 

 fourteen or even twenty feet square, or 



about that. Over the stove is a de- 

 flector, shaped like a Chinese umbrella, 

 which deflects the heat down upon the 

 chicks which spread around on the floor. 

 This brooder house and stove is intend- 

 ed to hold from a thousand to fifteen 

 hundred chicks and for those intending 

 to raise large numbers this seems to be 

 the best and the newest way. The stove, 

 with automatic regulator to control the 

 heat by shutting off part of the distil- 

 late and making a smaller flame, can be 

 bought, ready to put up, with tank, 

 pipes, etc., at Petaluma for about $18. 

 I have seen it working in several large 

 ranches. (See illustrations page 75 of 

 Mr. Davison's brooder houses.) I can 

 recommend these. Also the fireless 

 brooders which can be used in small, 

 low colony houses, or even in piano box 

 coops very advantageously for a few 

 chickens, twenty-five to a hundred. 



