US 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



April, 1919 



{Continued from page 146) 

 Hens as Hatchers 



Where one has only a small flock of fowls 

 it will rarely pay to have an incubator and 

 a brooder to raise chickens or ducks; so the 

 hen must be relied upon to raise any chicks 

 or ducklings that may be needed. A great 

 deal of the success in raising fowls depends upon 

 the nature of the hen. Some hens are so nervous 

 or irritable that they are not safe to use for hatch- 

 ing. They should therefore have their broodiness 

 " broken up." This may be done by confining 

 them in a lath coop suspended by a single wire 

 from the rafters of the poultry house. Every 

 motion the hen makes tends to make this coop 

 move with the result that the hen soon abandons 

 the idea of brooding and may be returned to the 

 flock. 



The best type of hen to choose for hatching is 

 one that allows you to approach her without be- 

 coming disturbed and will even eat out of your 

 hand. Naturally the large sized hen is desirable 

 because she will cover more eggs than the small 

 one. Among the best breeds for incubation are 

 the Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, Dorkings, 

 and Orpingtons, all of them large and naturally 

 docile. 



As soon as the hen indicates her desire to set 

 she should be thoroughly dusted with a good lice 

 powder to kill lice upon her and a day or two 

 afterward given a second application of the 

 powder to kill any young that may have hatched 

 from the eggs on her body when the old ones were 

 killed. After this second application she should 

 be moved at night to the coop in which she is to 

 do the hatching and given only nest eggs. Before 

 she is moved, however, she should be well fed so 



she will feel contented. If she takes kindly to 

 the new nest she may be given the clutch of eggs 

 to be hatched during the evening of the next day, 

 that is twenty-four hours after she has been on 

 the new nest. 



A good deal of the success of hatching with 

 hens depends upon the nature of the nest. The 

 best way to make the nest is to place inverted 

 sods on the ground in a building making a hollow 

 in the earth so the eggs will all cluster toward 

 the centre. On top of this, straw may be placed 

 and formed bowl shape. The reasons for using 

 earth and sod are that warmth is retained longer 

 than if the nest were above ground. There is 

 also less likelihood of lice becoming a pest in such 

 quarters. To keep down lice it is a good plan 

 to sprinkle the nest with lice powder two or three 

 times during the hatching period. With chick- 

 ens this lasts three weeks, with ducks, four. A 

 day or two before the hatch is completed the hen 

 should be thoroughly dusted again with lice 

 powder to have her as free as possible of these 

 pests so she may not impart them to the chicks. 



During the fourth to the sixth day it is a good 

 plan to examine the eggs and remove those which 

 have no sign of life in them. This is very easily 

 done by using a lamp enclosed in a box with an 

 aperture through which the light shines and to 

 which the egg is held. Eggs that have life in 

 them will show a dark spot and lines where the 

 heart and blood vessels have commenced to form; 

 those that contain no life will remain as clear as 

 when freshly laid. The sterile ones may be 

 removed and kept in a cold place until after the 

 hatch when they may be boiled hard, crumbled, 

 and fed to the chicks either alone or mixed with 

 bread crumbs. The advantage of removing 

 these eggs is that the hen can give better care to 



the remaining eggs. If several hens are set at 

 the same time, one or more may be started on 

 new batches of eggs — the other eggs being given 

 to the remaining hens. 



Notwithstanding the care taken to get rid of 

 lice on the hen the chicks should have their heads, 

 vents, and the underneath parts of the wings 

 greased with carbolated vaseline or some other 

 greasy material before they are given to the hen. 



Any grease or oil will do — not kerosene. This 

 grease will kill any lice that happen to come from 

 the hen or from other sources. 



The hen is most profitable during her first 

 and second years. Unless she is an exceptionally 

 good breeder she should be disposed of at the end 

 of her second laying season, before beginning 

 to molt. After that she will lay few eggs, so 

 why feed her for no return ? 



The Keeping of Bees in box-hives or log "gums" 

 is unprofitable. Bees need care in order to 

 yield a fair crop of honey. This can be given 

 only if the beekeeper is able to'examine the bees 

 and to move the combs as needed. Probably 

 one third of all the bees in the United States are 

 in hives, without movable combs. To assist 

 owners to get such colonies in proper hives, Far- 

 mers' Bulletin No. 961 has been prepared. It 

 describes various methods, some one of which 

 will be possible to any beekeeper, so there is no 

 reason for delay in making the bees productive. 

 However, unless the bees are properly managed 

 after transfer there is little advantage in movable 

 frame hives. This requires a study of beekeeping 

 as well as promptness and care. Directions for 

 handling bees are given in other department 

 publications which every beekeeper should read. 



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My oaraen 



By LOUISE BEEBE WILDER 



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